Telford & Wrekin Council warns cuts in social care now starting

The Council is warning that, given the scale of cuts in Government grant which leave it needing to find another £23 million of savings by 2016, cuts in its adult social care budget, one of the biggest areas of spend in the Council, accounting for 36p in every £1 it spends, are inevitable.

In the last four years, more than £7 million has been saved from Adult Social Care but by 2016, the Council must save around another £9 million equivalent to nearly 25% of this area’s spend.

Latest Council budget monitoring figures show that it is currently failing to hit targets in this area unless major and immediate steps are taken to address the situation.

The vast majority of spend in Adult Social Care goes directly on care packages for adults – with over 77% spent directly with care providers.

At the same time demand for Council funded care services continues to increase, as people live longer and the population ages.

The Council is looking at every way possible to make the savings needed and will be reviewing every new and existing care package.

Cllr Arnold England, cabinet member for Adult Social Care, said: “We have to be upfront with service users, their carers, social care providers and voluntary organisations – we simply cannot continue to fund social care as we have done.

“We have no choice but to reduce our spend on care and find cheaper care solutions, with budgets set to reduce further this trend will only continue.

“Adult social care is such a large part of the council’s budget that we cannot make the savings we must without affecting this.

“At the same time we must invest in our priorities such as supporting jobs and growth, because this will help to make essential council services, such as adult social care more sustainable by creating extra funding through business rates and council tax for example.

“We are now contacting all involved in adult social care to advise them of the difficult choices ahead.”