ONLY two highly-paid positions remain to be filled following the radical revamp of the top brass at Scottish Borders Council.

The post of Service Director Children and Young People was advertised recently at a salary of between £78,717 and £80,487. That is £20,000 less than the annual remuneration of Glenn Rodger who held the new defunct post of director of education until he took early retirement last week.

“The council is going through the recruitment process at the moment for this position,” said a Scottish Borders Council spokesperson.

Another new post – Chief Officer (Health and Social Care Integration) - is currently being advertised nationally with a deadline for applications of April 21.

That role, also on a salary of up to £80,487, acknowledges that from next year, health and social care, currently administered by NHS Borders and SBC respectively, will be delivered as a merged service.

The successful candidate will be answerable to the respective chief executives of these organisations, Calum Campbell and Tracey Logan.

Meanwhile, the council’s two new deputy chief executives – former divisional police commander Jeannette McDiarmid and former Edinburgh City Council personnel boss Philip Barr – have begun their £105,000 a year jobs.

Mrs McDiarmid is heading up a “people” department which will include the two currently unfilled positions and Elaine Torrance who was recently appointed as Chief Social Work Officer.

Mr Barr is in charge of the “place” department and thus overseeing the roles of new service directors Jenni Craig (Neighbourhood Services), Andrew Drummond-Hunt (Commercial Services), Brian Frater (Regulatory Services) and Martin Joyce (Capital Projects).

Other chief officers under the new regime, which is estimated will save SBC £700,000 a year once one-off severance payments to outgoing staff are paid, are as follows: David Cressey (Strategy and Policy), Clair Hepburn (Human Resources), David Robertson (Finance) and Rob Dickson (Corporate Transformation and Services).

Dr Eric Baijal remains as Director of Public Health, a post jointly shared and financed by the council and NHS Borders.