Agenda item

This report details a referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services.

The Committee considered a report which gave them details of a referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services. 

It was reported that the Executive had highlighted the increased demand levels for adult community care packages and care packages as having an impact on the Council’s budget. As a result they had requested the Scrutiny Committee review the reasons for and possible options for offsetting the increase and demand in these services.

Annex 1 of the report also provided a further monitor report, which showed that the projected overspend on Adult Social care had now risen to around £1.1m from £589k at the last report.

Officers referred to the significant demographic changes in society resulting in increased demand on services together with the increasing cost of care related to additional holiday provision in the private sector and implementation of the working time directive. Reference was also made to the reduction in income and other cost pressures together with the fact that York was one of the lowest funded authorities in the country. In answer to a question, it was reported that in 2007/08 the average annual care expenditure in England was £979 per older person compared to York’s spending of £689 per older person.

Members commented on and questioned the following points:

·        Details of future requirements in respect of community based support for Learning Disabilities;

·        Need to learn from other authorities and their areas of expertise;

·        Costs of telecare against that of homecare;

·        Partners input into services also required examination;

·        Details required of Impact of More for York on services;

·        Concerns that any further cuts would impact on frontline services;

·        Need for meaningful information to enable the Committee to provide the Executive with options for offsetting the increase in demand for these services;

• Queried what options the Executive Member had considered, accepted and rejected, to bring the budget back into balance. (The Executive Member did not give this information;
• Queried the wisdom of the Council’s Executive accepting wholly uncosted amendments to their budget for 2009/10, proposed by a minor opposition party, which included notional, unspecified savings.

The Executive Member declined to comment on a number of these issues.

[As amended by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting held on 13 January 2010.]

Following further lengthy discussions consideration was given to the following options:

Option 1            Monitor the situation through regular reports

Option 2         Call an additional one-off meeting between Members of the Committee, the Director of Housing & Adult Social Services and the Head of Finance to discuss the budget pressures in more detail.

Option 3         Progress this topic to review clearly indicating which issues need to be addressed and what outcomes could realistically achieved.

Option 4            Take no further action

RESOLVED:             That the Executive Member/Leader be requested to provide details of the capital and revenue figures for Adult Social Services for the 2010/11 financial year to enable the Scrutiny Committee to discuss this matter at their meeting on 13 January 2010, in order to respond to the Executive’s request.  ^1.

REASON:                  To address the concerns raised by the Executive