Social care in East Renfrewshire is “in dire straits” as £7m of cuts have been agreed, with help set to be prioritised so those deemed to be lower risk could miss out.
Rolling out a new ‘supporting people framework’, which will see people’s needs assessed and categorised, is expected to save £3.2m.
Officials said current funding is “just not sufficient to deliver the same level of service”.
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Further cuts will see 18 jobs lost while several services are currently being reviewed as part of a planned £2m savings package.
These include commissioned services (£225,000), care at home (£200,000), Kirkton Day Centre (£72,000) and Connor Road supported housing for young people (£60,000).
The board aims to manage staff cuts through “vacant posts and natural turnover”. However, a further 18 jobs could be impacted once proposals have been “refined”, a report to members stated.
Funding for the area’s Integration Joint Board [IJB], which directs the Health and Social Care Partnership [HSCP], is provided by its two partners, the council and NHS.
A shortfall meant savings were required to pass a balanced budget when board members met today [Wednesday].
Lesley Bairden, chief financial officer of the HSCP, said the board was now faced with the “harsh reality” of rolling out prioritisation of care.
“In conclusion, the 23/24 budget that is proposed today should allow a budget that can be balanced, albeit with very significant risk and some very difficult challenges ahead,” she added.
“I think for us to be able to deliver the ‘supporting people framework’, and deliver the level of cost reductions required, along with full delivery of all savings, challenging is too easy a word.”
She added there is also a risk in “managing and containing new demand for services” and prescribing, with further savings needed if costs can’t be managed.
The new policy is expected to begin from April 1 and apply to all adults, older adults and children with a disability accessing social care. It would not apply to children and young people where there are “care/welfare concerns” or young people leaving care.
Eligibility will be split into four categories — critical, substantial, moderate and low — and a council spokesman previously confirmed support where needs are considered to be low will no longer be provided.
Low level has been identified as “some quality of life issues, but low risks to an individual’s independent living or health and well-being, with very limited, if any, requirement for the provision of social care services”.
People will instead be given advice on how to access other services or families may be asked to provide support.
Cllr Katie Pragnell, Labour, said she believed the financial position was due to “poor funding settlements” from governments. “No matter how we frame it, these cuts are going to have devastating effects on our residents and we have to do the best to mitigate this.”
Anne-Marie Monaghan, who chairs the IJB, said the board is “in dire straits”. “We are in the position we are in, whatever the political reasons. Those are the policies of the government of our land, and the decisions made by our local government,” she added.
“We are left to get on with it and I think that’s what we need to do. They make the decisions, we get the money and we have to do the best we can with the money that we have.”
Board members raised concerns over the impact on statutory services, as well as the funding settlements provided. In Glasgow, its IJB had been warned statutory services could be breached as a result of cuts.
Julie Murray, chief officer of East Renfrewshire HSCP, said the board was “in a different place to Glasgow”. “Glasgow has already been following quite a robust eligibility criteria, we have resisted that for a number of years.
“The idea of us creating this [prioritisation framework] is to enable us to ensure that we can meet our statutory duties, so that our statutory duties are protected.
“I think this will have a significant impact on the people we support, it will have a significant impact on their quality of life, but it’s our priority to make sure that we deliver our statutory duties.”
The new framework tries to “reflect the difficult situation we are in but doing it in a way that actually reflects our values”, Ms Murray said, adding the board’s funding allocation is “just not sufficient to deliver the same level of service”.
She said: “I think it is really important for us to be clear to our public what they can expect, and also to give a set of guidelines for staff to protect them in some of the conversations they are having with people, because it’s going to be quite difficult.”
Reviewing current support will be “tricky” as “people are not going to be happy with what we’re going to have to do”.
Board member Amina Khan said: “I think it’s worth recognising that the burden of care often falls upon women and there’s an equitable issue there.”
Ms Murray said: “The modelling suggests we will stop funding support for people with low levels of need, that’s not necessarily what we will do. We need to do individual reviews, because it may be that a little bit of money can actually prevent people from needing more support.
“We also hope there might be more efficiencies in some of the more expensive care packages too. We will have to review everything we do and ensure we are getting the most efficient use from our funding.”
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