Shropshire Council staff transferred by end of year

The first wave of Shropshire Council staff due to move into an authority-owned company should be in place by the end of the year, the council has said.

Some 260 employees from the council's legal, finance, facilities management and IT departments are expected to join the new holding company, named IP&E.

The Conservative-led authority wants to generate an income through services that can be sold to the public sector.

More than 1,700 staff are expected to transferred over to the company.

Last week the council announced that Tom Roehricht would be the managing director of the new firm.

'Into the billions'

Council leader Keith Barrow expects Mr Roehricht, who will receive an £80,000 salary as well as a performance-related bonus, will have a "hands-on" role in managing the shared services.

Mr Barrow said: "They're going to be providing exactly the same services to the council at exactly the same price.

"One of Tom's jobs is to look at the market, look where we can sell and who we can sell to in the public sector.

"We work with the fire service anyway and we work with the police locally. Perhaps we can expand on that because the amount of public money that's spent in Shropshire... is into the billions.

"If we can help the other public bodies deliver the same back-office services more cost effectively, wouldn't that make sense?"