Extra £14m needed for adult social care

Councillor Kelly Middleton said the local authority would do what it could to manage budgets as effectively as possible

Telford and Wrekin Council will need to make cuts and find efficiencies of more than £4m over the next five months if it is to stay within budget, a report has revealed.

Officials at the Labour-run authority are anticipating the costs of a "national social care funding crisis" will put strain on its finances by the end of this financial year.

Council officers said they would have to use up all their budgeted contingency reserves and make savings.

The report forecasts an additional £14m will be needed to cover the costs of providing adult social care packages through to the end of March 2026.

This is in addition to £77m committed at the start of the year from the council's overall £167.64m revenue budget.

Despite pressures from the rising costs of social care, leaders said they "cannot and will not compromise on the level of care elderly residents and the most vulnerable in the community deserve".

"Our role as a council is to care for our community and despite the rising costs, people must remember that we are talking about somebody's mother, father or grandparents and they all deserve the right care and most appropriate care to meet their needs," said councillor Kelly Middleton, cabinet member for adult social care.

"We will continue to protect, care and invest whilst working hard to do what we can to manage budgets as effectively as possible."

Councillor Zona Hannington, cabinet member for finance, governance and customer services, added: "Last year through hard work and innovation we delivered savings across adult social care totalling £6m.

"This work is continuing to ensure we are as efficient as possible, but factors outside of our control, including the need to care for an ageing population with people living longer, continue to see the costs of care rise."

She added that the authority had a "strong record of financial management" would seek to deliver a balanced budget, something which she said the authority had achieved for the past 16 years.

Telford and Wrekin Council's cabinet will receive the financial monitoring report at its meeting on 6 November.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.