by political editor Paul Francis

Sweeping changes to the way KCC provides its services to 1.6m residents will see the number of key departments cut from eight to just five.

Some 300 different services are to be split among five new directorates in a major County Hall shake-up that will also involve a cut in the number of top bosses.

The re-organisation comes ahead of a spending review likely to leave KCC confronting a £340m shortfall over the next three years.

In one of the key changes, childrens' social services will become the responsibility of a new families, health and social care directorate.

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The switch comes only a few years after councils were told the task of looking after vulnerable youngsters should be integrated into education, following various child abuse inquiries.

KCC Conservative leader Cllr Paul Carter said the spending forecasts meant changes had to be made: "No change is not an option.

"We have a dramatic challenge in delivering substantial revenue cuts over the next three to four years."

Cllr Sarah Hohler, cabinet member for education, downplayed the changes to childrens' social care.

"There was a move to put education and childrens' services together for valid reasons and now there are valid reasons to separate them.

"We now have 12 childrens' trust boards where the police, social services and education are all represented so we should have cross-cutting involvement."

Under the re-organisation plans, each new directorate will be headed by a senior director and together, there will be 29 managers for all five.

The new directorates are:

* Education, Learning and Skills (including school standards, school transport and admissions)

* Families, Health and Social care (including all social services)

* Enterprise (responsible for highways, regeneration, planning and the environment)

* Customer and Communities

* Business support and strategy

Consultation on the changes and management redundancies will start with a final decision made in December.