Managing the Social Work Budget

The Highland Council’s Housing and Social Work Committee has given its backing to the management of the Social Work Service to implement a robust action plan, which aims to recover a projected overspend of £3.437 million on the Social Work budget.

Harriet Dempster, Director of Social Work, and her managers have been tasked with managing and closely monitoring spending and doing their best to minimise the impact on services provided to the public.

The Committee heard that over the past few weeks the budget position had shown a very small improvement but Ms Dempster said the Service was still facing a very serious financial situation.

She said: “The Social Work Service budget faces an extremely challenging and pressured financial position where demand for services in some areas is exceeding the resources available. This is in the context of a worsening future financial outlook for the public services generally.

Councillor Margaret Davidson, Chairman of Housing and Social Work, thanked committee members for their understanding of the budget situation and their support for management action to recover the overspend. I have confidence that managers will make every effort to minimise impact on service delivery and manage within the resources they have available.

She assured the committee there had been no change of policy with regard to the patients leaving hospital and requiring free personal and  nursing or residential care.

She said: “The Council remains committed to seeking to meet the assessed needs of our older people and working closely with NHS colleagues to identify creative solutions and to maximise the positive impact of the resources we have available. The objective is to shift the balance of care, and support more people at home.”