Decision details

The Board was presented with a report on the tracking and delivery of savings agreed by Full Council in the current and previous financial years.

Members were invited to ask questions and a summary is outlined below:

On forecasting demand in Adult Services, there was an understanding that a variety of models could be utilised to support future planning and subsequent cost, however previous experience had shown that models and assumptions were susceptive to levels of unpredictability which posed considerable challenge for the council. For example, the council was not aware of who, how many or what the associated costs of self-funders in residential care and their packages of care who dropped to statutory levels would be. Members were informed that complexity of need also presented significant costs, and this could not be predicted.

With regard to utilising data to drive responses to challenges and whether it was sufficient, it was reported that improvements in using data to inform decisions had been made and it was acknowledged that further improvements could be made.

It was acknowledged that prevention was key to supporting services moving forward and providing service users with more resource at a community level to address problems early.

On investing to save initiatives it was reported that there were three ongoing areas of activity. The first was on obtaining additional capacity within the reviewing team to pickup reviews at an early stage. The second initiative was responding to complex casework in relation to Section 117 of the Mental Health Act and Continuing Healthcare cases. It was reported that a number of cases were being passed on to the council when it was felt the responsibility rested with the local NHS. Such cases were being taken on by the council but were having a significant impact on the council's finances. The final area was to apply a short term investment through providing overtime to existing council staff instead of agency staff to assist with demand pressures.

With regard to budget planning, it was reported that officers were identifying where demand was needed through this process. However, it was highlighted that much of the work undertaken to identify savings across Adult Services was around how work could be done differently through identifying areas of good practice elsewhere and data. However, it was acknowledged that it might take longer to achieve the savings in this area than originally planned.

In considering whether any further scrutiny of savings was required, the Board felt this was not necessary at this stage. The tracker report was presented to all meetings of the Board and progress with delivery would be monitored accordingly.

Resolved: That the savings tracker and progress with delivery be noted.