Department to be axed in shake-up

Doncaster Council is to scrap its social services department as
part of a radical restructuring to shift service management to a
neighbourhood level.

Under the plan, the council will lose all central service
departments and run services through six neighbourhood bodies. At
the centre, community directors will be responsible for strategic
themes, cutting across traditional service boundaries.

The plans are the idea of managing director Susan Law, who said
it would make the council more customer-focused and cut
bureaucracy.

She said: “Its main priority is not cost-cutting or
middle-management bashing, but putting in place the kind of
leadership that empowers council staff to make common sense
decisions that benefit residents.”