A 'chaotic' Government department has put vulnerable people at risk by forcing major changes that split adult and children’s services, Devon County Council’s leader has said.

Local Government Minister Steve Reed announced council reorganisation plans affecting Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. 

His proposals will see county-wide social care services currently run by nine councils split between 16 new unitary authorities.  

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is due to make a decision on local Government Reorganisation affecting Devon, Torbay and Plymouth this summer. 

Devon County Council is proposing a county-wide authority, with Torbay and Plymouth unitary councils remaining in place. It would be swift to implement, resilient to financial shocks and have the scale to improve vital front-line services. 

Other options being considered are proposals which would see smaller, less resilient councils created across the county.

Devon County Council leader Julian Brazil said he fears today’s decision shows the ministry is not prioritising the country’s most vulnerable.

“What we have seen today is a Government that has ignored some of its own rules in relation to local government reorganisation and broken up vital adult and children’s services into geographies which local people may not recognise, but which may suit their political ambitions,” he said.  

“If this happens in Devon, where an independent Commissioner has recently recognised the improvement journey children’s services are on, and warned against breaking them up, some of the most vulnerable people we care for face a much more uncertain future." 

A decision on changes to Sussex and Brighton has been delayed because of fears that social care services may be adversely affected by breaking them up, and rural identities may be lost. 

Cllr Brazil said: “It is small relief but there appears to be some recognition at MHCLG that breaking up social care departments carries with it significant risk. I sincerely hope that is thoughtfully considered when Devon’s proposals are risk assessed, but the chaos with which this exercise has been handled does not fill me with hope.”