Council structure

We're a medium sized unitary council, with a wide range of responsibilities, delivering services ranging from education, social care and housing, to managing the highway, registering births and deaths, and keeping the borough clean, amongst many others.

We have five directorates that work together to deliver the council's key priorities.

Directorate Services
Adults and Communities

Adult and Wellbeing

Stronger, Safer, Healthier Communities
Children’s Services

Education, Early Start and Prevention

Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding
Place

Regeneration and Culture

Environment and Transport
Public Health

Public Health

0-19 Service
Core Services

Legal Services

Business Improvement, Human Resources and Communications

Finance

Governance, Member Services and Business Support

Customer, Information and Digital Services

Our priorities

We have five new priorities which are supported by 12 outcomes:

  • Healthy Barnsley
  • Learning Barnsley
  • Growing Barnsley
  • Sustainable Barnsley
  • Enabling Barnsley is our underlying priority to ensure that our council is modern, inclusive, efficient, productive and high-performing.

Councillors and Cabinet

Barnsley has 63 councillors, elected in thirds every four years. They're democratically accountable, and have a duty to the whole community, including those who didn't vote for them. All councillors meet together as a council to set overall policy and budget.

The Cabinet is the main elected member decision-making body of the council. It's made up of the Leader of the Council, plus seven other members appointed by the leader, each with the title Cabinet Spokesperson.

Each spokesperson is responsible for several council services, known as their portfolio. As well as leading discussions in Cabinet about services in their portfolio, they have the power to take some routine decisions themselves. 

Please leave us some feedback