Following the abolition of the county council in 1986, Rotherham also took on county-level services, with some functions provided in joint arrangements with the other South Yorkshire boroughs.

[8][9] In February 2015 the council had certain decision-making powers suspended and transferred to commissioners appointed by the government after the council was severely criticised by the Casey report into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.

For the purposes of local government, Rotherham is within a metropolitan area of England.

It provides the majority of local government services in Rotherham, including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority.

Parts of the borough are covered by civil parishes, which form a second tier of local government for their areas.