£2m for social care but services need rethink
Contingency funds used as pressure put on system
Stirling’s social care services could be in for more cash in the next council budget after councillors were last week forced to plough in over £2 million from contingency funds.
Any future boost, however, could have to go hand in hand with a more indepth, long term look at demand and a rethink of how services are delivered.
Stirling Council’s finance committee on Thursday heard the current 2016/17 social care budget had a £2.2 million projected overspend because of rising demand for services £1.56million in the children and families budget and £648.000 in adults.
Officials said budget controls alone had not been enough to balance budgets without “serious risk” to the council’s ability to protect the vulnerable and risk, adding that changing demands from national government such as targets for delayed discharges, plus expensive care packages had been among major impacts in recent months.
The council’s chief finance officer Jim Boyle said: “In reality this probably won’t be enough to completely tackle the overspend position but there are many initiatives the council can do to use resources in a more efficient way without affecting the level of services to clients.
“When we signed off on this budget the overspend was £400,000 and while a significant sum it was manageable. Particularly with children we have had a number of extremely expensive packages coming through not controlled by this council but often by other agencies and the council having to cover the cost. They have certainly accelerated beyond what was anticipated. The delayed discharge targets have been further reduced so a number of factors are at play here.”
Social care convener Christine Simpson said: “Systems have been in place to control spending and to monitor, however it is simply the case that the demographic has overtaken us and pressure on the NHS has very much impacted on our services.”
Councillor Gerry McLaughlan said all councillors were sympathetic given the nature of the service provided, but questioned why the trends could not have been predicted, adding:“You can’t be a councillor and not be aware of the demand for social work services. Luckily for us we can raid reserves but it is not how it should operate. Hopefully going forward we will get a grasp of how we are going to meet these demands.”
Councillor Corrie McChord said: “We need to put £2 million in because the service needs money now but my long-term feeling has been that the social service budget was not fit for purpose and it needs more. However, that needs to include an analysis of how to do that, not just simply give it more money..”
Councillor John Hendry said: “This is a service that will vary anyway but what we need to do is look at what transformational change is needed to provide an efficient service. The contingencies put in place by officers will deal with the immediate problem but this has to be a key part of the forthcoming budget exercise.”
Finance committee convener Councillor Neil Benny said: “We don’t want individual clients to suffer because of overspends and we have been prudent enough that we have very good reserves and are able to fund the overspends from these but these are not bottomless and we need to work out a way of addressing these issues.”
Council leader Councillor Johanna Boyd said: “Over the last few years there has been an overall reduction in funding for this council of £47 million which makes it impossible to fully insulate one service. This is the national picture and it needs a national solution.”