Andrew Christie to take charge at first tri-borough children's services department

Andrew Christie, who is currently director of children’s services at Hammersmith & Fulham Council, is expected to start his new role in September.

The appointment is part of plans to combine the children’s services departments of Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea councils.

The three-way merger is expected to lead to savings of £11.8m a year by 2014/15.

As director of a single children’s services management team covering all three areas, Christie will manage a budget of more than £500m.

This includes £80m for social care and family support services. He will also oversee £277m of schools funding for 153 schools and organise support for more than 1,800 children with special educational needs.

"This is a proud day for me and I am delighted to be recommended to help deliver the vision for Britain’s first tri-borough children’s services department," Christie said.

"By bringing together the best team and practices and eliminating duplication in management and overhead costs, our tri-borough arrangement will allow us to maintain and improve vital frontline services while delivering the necessary budget savings."

"By working together as one team we can make more efficient use of shared resources, for example by pooling foster carers, and we will also be able to get a better deal from our suppliers when we are buying in services."

Under the plan each borough will retain its ability to commission additional services to meet local needs, which council members will be able to sign off.

The children’s services plans are part of wider proposals to combine council services across the three boroughs in a bid to save £35m a year by 2014/15.

Adult, environmental and corporate services are also expected to be combined, which will mean around 500 jobs being lost in management, back office and support roles.

Kensington & Chelsea council leader Merrick Cockell said: "Providing services for families and children is a vital part of what councils do and is always a challenging task, particularly so in these difficult economic times. We are determined to protect our services and sharing such a senior officer means more of our resources can be directed to the frontline."

Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea have agreed to share a chief executive from October. The two councils already share senior management posts in legal services, highways and finance.