Councils plan to merge adult director posts with other roles

Plans are afoot to merge adult social services director posts with other responsibilities in one in seven English councils, as authorities attempt to deal with spending cuts, a survey has revealed.

Fourteen per cent of directors say there are plans to merge their posts with another in the next six months, the poll by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services revealed.

Options include merging responsibilities for adults’ and children’s services, and adding responsibility for community safety to directors’ portfolios.

Many directors already have responsibility for a range of service areas besides adult social care. Forty-three per cent are responsible for housing, a similar proportion oversee culture and heritage, and 22% are responsible for community safety, the survey found.

“The results show that in a small number of authorities some measure of structural change – not necessarily a merging of departments – is reflecting the way some councils are preparing themselves for the financial challenges to come,” said Adass president Richard Jones.

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