Councillors have reached an agreement with unions which will see senior officers’ pay cut in a bid to save money.

Harrow Council, UNISON and GMB have been thrashing out a deal to cut costs since February’s budget left the authority needing to find £19million in savings, following £31m in cuts last year, after huge reductions in Government funding.

The deal, which must be ratified by ballots of union members held last week, includes cuts to senior council workers’ pay and reductions in payments for overtime and weekend working in exchange for wage rises for the lowest paid.

The agreement also includes more flexibility of working arrangements in the terms and conditions of contracts, and compensation payouts to workers most affected by the changes.

Further details will be released if the deal gets approval from union members, which is expected to happen this week.

Council leader Bill Stephenson said the agreement “speaks volumes” for the relationship between the authority, staff and trade unions and said he would put forward a proposal that councillors’ allowances would also be cut by the same amount.

Harrow branch secretary of UNISON, Gary Martin, added that union negotiations had “mitigated the worst” of the original proposals put forward by councillors.