West Berkshire Council reveals £1m overspend on elderly care

SERVICES for elderly people in West Berkshire are expected to have cost the district council £1m more than it budgeted for this year.

A council report due to go before district councillors on Thursday next week, reveals the current financial position of the council and forecasts an overall overspend of £274,000 for the current, 2009-10, financial year.

Although various departments are expected to have spent a lot less on certain services than they budgeted for, one area which has spent significantly more is the Community Services department.

The predicted overspend from this department as a whole is £1,017,048.

Within this department the council has a predicted overspend of £1,124,285 specifically on its services for the elderly, but it has made savings elsewhere in the department.

After announcing the recent budget, council leader Graham Jones (Con, Lambourn) said the council was “in the midst of a demographic timebomb” that would see the proportion of over 65s increase by two thirds by 2028 and the number of over 85s double in the same period.

The council said the demographic demand on adult social care had risen beyond previous national predictions across the whole of the South East, with West Berkshire experiencing above average growth in the over 65 population.

The council report states: “This pressure is a major factor behind the projected overspend, along with changes in NHS continuing care funding contributions and the unexpected closure of a care home [Trafalgar Court in Theale].”

The report adds that a number of measures are being implemented to try to bring down the pressures, including negotiations with the primary care trust over NHS funding, a review of all client commissioning budget spend and a freeze on all directorate non-commissioning budgets, including staffing budgets.

Departments which spent less on their services include the children and young people’s department, which spent £317,000 less than it should have and the chief executive’s department which was under by £133,000.