Agenda item

Cabinet Portfolio: Adult Social Care and Health

Strategic Directorate: Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health and the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health attended the meeting to present a report that provided an update on the forecast budget position for Adult Care, the Housing General Fund and Public Health.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health in introducing the report advised that prior to the pandemic that the Adult Care, Housing General Fund and Public Health budgets had been on track and that all of the overspend in the budget had been caused by the extra spending that had been needed in response to the pandemic. The Cabinet Member noted that due to the constantly evolving situation regarding the pandemic that it was not currently possible to predict a final budget position.

The Strategic Director advised that overall the Directorate was forecast to have an overspend of £8.4m on general fund services after taking account of the additional one-off budget support of £4.65m for 2020/21. It was noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had created a negative cost impact of £8.4m on the Adult Care budget, with £6.3m of the overspend being caused by the need for additional expenditure in areas such as new packages of care; financial support for the independent care sector and the provision of personal protective equipment.  The Strategic Director further advised that the pandemic had delayed the work required to deliver £2.1m of identified savings in the Directorate as due to the pandemic staff resources had been diverted to support work related to the pandemic and away from planned transformational activity. It was also noted that anticipated additional income had also reduced as the implementation of social distancing measures had prevented some of the tasks required from taking place.

The Strategic Director advised that the delay in the delivery of savings beyond 2020/21 was currently being assessed along with potential mitigating actions and noted that any change to the expected saving profile would be addressed in the Council’s Budget reports. The report noted that the Neighbourhood Services’ (Housing) and Public Health budgets were both forecast to be delivered on target for the year. The report included tables that provided financial information on the Revenue Monitoring 2020/21 position as at May 2020, a summary of budget variances and the savings delivery forecast.

The Strategic Director noted that preparations for winter, changes to government guidelines regarding reassessments, longer timescales required to conduct reassessments for care packages virtually rather than in person and the  changes to government guidelines on hospital discharges all presented challenges logistically but also with regard to adding further pressures to the budget.

Members noted that the budget pressures in Adult Care had been created by the extra spending that had been required due to the pandemic and that prior to this that the Adult Care budget had been in a positive position.

Members asked if there would be any further funding from the Government for local authorities to mitigate the extra costs that had been incurred in responding to the pandemic. The Strategic Director advised that there was currently no more additional funding available from the Government over what had already been received.

Members asked for further information on the number of vacancies that were currently being held within Adult Care and how this was being managed with regard to both the budget and service delivery. The Strategic Director advised that vacancies and recruitment were being managed in a way that would ensure resilience in the service, an example being that when recruiting social workers more were being recruited than were currently needed in the anticipation of other social workers leaving the authority. The Strategic Director also advised that ensuring recruitment to vacancies was managed at maximum levels would also provide future resilience in the service regarding sickness and maternity absences. The Strategic Director noted that while vacancy control was an essential part of delivering a balanced budget, reductions in staffing numbers would only be considered if the continued delivery of services that ensured the safety of service users could be maintained.

Members asked for further information on how the pandemic had impacted on the number of home care packages that were being delivered. The Strategic Director advised that initially in the pandemic that the demand for home care had dropped substantially as service users cancelled packages in favour of receiving care from relatives due to concerns about carers coming into their homes. The Service Director noted the financial impact of this as in order to support independent providers payments had been paid on a basis of planned hours, not hours delivered. The Strategic Director noted that the difference between home care hours paid for by the Council and home care hours delivered had reduced significantly and that new care packages were also starting to be delivered.

The Strategic Director advised that Adult Care services were also being impacted by an increase on demand related to unpaid carer’s fatigued by the extra demands placed on them during the pandemic now seeking extra support from Adult Care. The Strategic Director also noted the future pressures on the service of supporting service users to be able to remain in their homes over the winter and also of the impacts of the pandemic and the related restrictions increasing demand from services users with mental health, debt or housing problems.

The Chair asked how the extra funding that had been allocated to the Council to support the extra expenditure incurred related to the pandemic had been spent. The Strategic Director advised that it had been spent on areas including additional personal protective equipment, additional placements and payments to independent sector care providers who had been negatively impacted financially by the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member in conclusion noted the excellent work of the Adult Care, Housing and Public Health team and its partners throughout the pandemic and welcomed the news that there were currently no Covid-19 patients in hospital in Rotherham.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health and the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health for attending the meeting and answering members questions.

Resolved: -

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That a further report on the Adult Care Budget position be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in November 2020.