Fife Council’s social work budget faces £10m deficit

Fife Council’s social work director has vowed not to abandon service users despite major budgetary challenges.
Stephen Moore faced members of the local authority’s executive committee to confirm that his department is facing a £10 million overspend by 2014 — a £3 million increase on estimates produced five months ago.

The crisis comes as the council looks to plug a £100m budget shortfall, creating further uncertainty among officials and the public.

However, while steps are ongoing to reduce expenditure, Mr Moore said that the needs of people who depend upon social work services will still take priority.

He said: “We are talking about the most vulnerable people in society, so we have to meet their needs. We have a statutory responsibility so we do not have a choice, but you can hold me and the service to account on how we are doing.”

At a meeting of the executive committee in May, councillors were told of a projected £7.249 million overspend in the social work budget. However, due to an apparent increase in both child and adult placements, this has risen to £10.472 million.

The scale of the overspend, in particular the recent addition of a further £3.2 million, clearly concerned local councillors, with member Bryan Poole stating: “It is staggering that this has happened.

“A 33% increase in a few months is very worrying.”

Kirkcaldy councillor Judy Hamilton, executive spokesperson for social work and health, said that it was important for councillors and officers to remain focused and tackle the overspend, while remaining committed to providing users with the level of care and support that they expected.

She added: “We could go on about previous budgets but that is not helpful and we are not here to score points. We are looking at the situation very seriously but this is not about pointing fingers.”

Currently the department has a number of plans in place to reduce its overheads, with savings plans and contract reviews.

Investment in early years prevention, increasing opportunities for youngsters and reducing inequalitie has also been made in an effort to reduce long-term costs to the department, although Mr Moore admitted that getting the correct balance of “crisis and prevention” was particularly important.

Councillor Tim Brett added: “At the end of the day we only have a certain amount of money to spend and we need to decide how to spend it.

“If we can only do so much, then we will be asking families to do more but we must support them in doing so.”

Members agreed to note efforts being made to reduce service costs, with the results of a priority-based budgeting exercise set to report back in December.