Plans to spend £320million on caring for vulnerable adults and children have been backed by Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet.
The proposal would mean a record-breaking 65% of the authority’s budget will be spent on delivering care across the county.
To help fund the spending, the council said it also hopes to reduce its own running costs by £62million by 2024 and increase the share of the council tax it receives to 3.99% for 2020/21.
Cllr Philip Atkins, leader of the council, said:
“Spending 65% of our budget on caring for the frail elderly and vulnerable children puts pressure on other areas.
“Despite this, we have acted swiftly to manage these pressures and continued to bring wider benefits to Staffordshire families by growing the economy, creating better jobs and helping more people lead healthier, independent and rewarding lives.
“Our call now is for the new Government to back the ambitions of well-run councils like Staffordshire by securing a long-term national solution to how we fund care, support children with special educational needs and disabilities and protect our local roads from further decline.”
Cllr Philip Atkins
Other spending proposals for 2020/21 backed by the cabinet include a £650,000 investment in climate change and sustainability projects, as well as £120million on capital projects such as schools and business sites.
The draft budget will be presented to a meeting of the full council on 13th February.
Unfortunately, Councillor Atkins does not spell out the budget headings for “frail, elderly and vulnerable children” which he says is £320 million and a “record breaking 65% of the authority’s budget”. However, if he means the cost of Health and Care and Families and Communities (£326 million) then this is a reduction from 2018/19 which I estimate was 71%.
Of course, reduction in the overall budget will means a greater percentage spent on this undefined heading but in any case, it does not meet the demand that older vulnerable people in Burntwood and Lichfield need.
I dread to think what is happening to older, vulnerable people in Staffordshire now that the charity I worked for, Age UK Staffordshire, had to close their Information and Advice service and Citizens Advice had their funding cut. The Care Quality Commission Inspectors reported only 13 months ago that in Staffordshire, “The role of the VCSE [Voluntary, Community Social Enterprise] sector as a strategic partner in the prevention agenda was underdeveloped and there were missed opportunities to make the most of the VCSE resources available in the community.
If the state of social care in the County was as visible as the state of the roads, then there would be demonstrations every week. Unfortunately, it is only when a family is affected by hospital discharge, and a need for care in their own home or the lack of funding for care in a good care or nursing home that they find out in the cruellest way.