Issue - meetings

Report CS17002

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report outlining the provisional budget outturn position for the Care Services Portfolio for the 2015/16 financial year.  This showed an underspend of £4,350k on controllable expenditure, which was an increase from the last reported figure of an underspend of £3,646k based on activity at the end of December 2015.  A number of carry forward requests had been agreed by the Council’s Executive at its meeting on 15^th June 2016, which related to either unspent grant income or delays in expenditure where cost pressures would follow through into 2016/17.

The Portfolio Holder for Care Services reflected on the difficulties experienced following a significant in-year grant reduction of between £900k-£1m for Bromley’s Public Health budget for 2015/16, and commended Dr Nada Lemic and her team in managing to balance the Public Health budget during a challenging time.

In considering the report, a Member queried if savings made within the Care Services Portfolio had contributed to the outcome of the recent Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Social Care and underlined the need to ensure services were funded at an appropriate level.  A Co-opted Member suggested that an impact assessment be routinely undertaken where any savings were proposed.  The Portfolio Holder for Care Services emphasised the pressures on the Local Authority to deliver considerable budget savings across all Portfolios, and that the implications of any proposed savings within the Care Services Portfolio were fully scrutinised by Members.  The amount of spend across the Care Services Portfolio was often linked to the number of service users and their level of need, and as a result could vary extensively throughout the year. 

A Member noted the underspend in staffing in the Assessment and Care Management Division which reflected the continuing difficulties in recruiting qualified social workers across services for both adults and children, and the Chairman  highlighted the potential to review the Recruitment and Retention package if it was not sufficient.  Another Member underlined the additional cost if the staffing levels were not right within a team, including increased sickness, and suggested that a comparative exercise be undertaken to assess this.

The Vice-Chairman was concerned at the variation between the amount paid in rent by clients leaving care and the amount reclaimable as Housing Benefit.  The Head of Education, Care and Health Services Finance confirmed that the costs of leaving care continued to rise and that Housing Benefit levels could only be estimated.  There was also a cost associated with the increasing care needs of these clients. 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to:

1)  Note the underspend of £4,350k on controllable expenditure at the end of 2015/16 and any issues arising from it;

2)  Note a number of carry forward requests agreed at the meeting of the Council’s Executive on 15^th June 2016; and,

3)  Approve the provisional budget outturn for the Care Services Portfolio for 2015/16.