SC mental health, disabilities agency lays off 47 as part of reorganization

COLUMBIA — Nearly 50 state workers lost their jobs as part of the consolidation of South Carolina agencies overseeing behavioral health, disabilities and mental health services.

Altogether, the agency, formed last year, got rid of 275 positions, though most were vacant; 27 people changed jobs in the realignment, according to a report the department provided. The 47 people laid off June 30 worked in administrative roles, such as human resources, finances and tech support.

None of the jobs eliminated worked directly with the communities they served, according to the report. The layoffs will not affect the agency’s services, said spokeswoman Beth Moore.

The jobs eliminated represented a quarter of the 1,100 total administrative positions the agency had in April 2025, when the law passed. The agency still has 4,729 employees, plus nearly 1,800 open jobs, Department of Administration spokeswoman Brooke Bailey said in an email.

“Doing this carefully was the right call for employees and to ensure that the agency remains functional and able to fulfill its mission,” Bailey said.

The 2025 state law combined three agencies overseeing services for people with mental health needs, disabilities and substance use disorders into the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities in an effort to streamline services.

A clause included in the state budget gave the newly formed agency until the end of this June to finish reorganizing, including finding and eliminating duplicative roles. The agency used that time to take a close look at employees’ roles and decide which were absolutely necessary, according to the report that same clause required.

Over the last year, officials limited filling administrative vacancies, allowing most jobs no longer needed to be eliminated without laying people off; 27 people were reassigned, the report read.

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The agency is helping those who were laid off look for other open jobs with different state agencies if they want to continue working in government, Moore said.

“We recognize the significant impact this has had on the employees affected and their families,” Moore said in a statement. “We are doing everything we can, within state rules, to provide them with support.”

The goal of the new agency was to make the process of getting help easier for people with disabilities, mental health issues and substance use disorders after a 2024 independent study found the state had the most fragmented public health system in the country, legislators said at the time. People often got bounced around to different agencies, since many services and the people needing them overlapped.

“The goal was not simply to reduce the number of employees,” in consolidating, the report read. Rather, the move was meant to “build a more efficient and coordinated agency,” it continued.

Each of the three agencies had its own processes for hiring, accounting, technology systems and other administrative tasks. The individual agencies were also decentralized, with local offices around the state acting autonomously.

That led to confusion among different branches of the agency and made it harder for agency leaders to oversee each department’s work, according to the report.

“This limited consistency made coordination more difficult and allowed for unnecessary duplication,” the report read.

“Under the new structure, reporting lines are clearer, expectations are more consistent, and agency leadership has better visibility into operations,” according to the report. That should enable officials to “identify issues earlier, respond more quickly” and lead to better decisions.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the total number of reductions, after factoring in the 27 employees reassigned.