Hundreds of jobs to go at town halls

Both Rotherham and Doncaster Councils have set their budgets for the next financial year, with more than 300 jobs to go in Doncaster and around 60 in Rotherham.

Council tax will be frozen by the two authorities and both Doncaster’s mayor, Peter Davies, and Rotherham Council leader Roger Stone said they planned to make further “efficiencies” in operations.

Mr Davies, who has had to find £25.7m of savings this year, on top of £68m in the past two financial years, said his budget was “robust” and would protect front-line services.

He added: “Being prudent, efficient and removing unnecessary bureaucracy has always been an important priority of mine and by continuing to focus on improved processes we should find £12.9m of efficiency savings next year.”

Coun Stone, who has to save £20m, said more than 1,000 people had lost their jobs at the council over the past two years.

He added: “It is not going to be easy, but we believe Rotherham has a long history of innovation in the face of adversity and challenge and this will continue.

“We will continue to maintain high-level services to those who need them most but obviously will continue to review all aspects of our work to be efficient.”