Social services: 'We can't cut any more'

The head of Norfolk's adult social services has warned his department has gone as far as it can in trimming its budget as it battles to cope with cuts totalling nearly £40m in the next three years.

Norfolk County Council is looking at cuts across the board as it expects a £140m funding shortfall in the next three years as the nation's massive debt puts the squeeze on government funding.

But big-spending, demand-led departments at County Hall are facing an uphill task to meet the cuts and this week it emerged that higher than expected demand for care packages meant that the adult social services department was nearly £8m adrift in the current year - before any of the future savings are implemented.

While the final deficit is likely be around half that it adds to the pressures facing the service as it looks to impose a £9.4m cuts package next year.

The county's rising population and those with learning difficulties has seen costs go up by £15.9m, but the department will only get an extra £4.1m to cover inflation and there was still around £2.8m in cuts yet to be found.

David Harwood, cabinet member for adult social services, told a review panel this week that finances would be tight.

“It means we are going to have to find savings of £15m-16m next year, the year after that it's going to be about £17m and another £17m the year after that,” he said. “There is no way we are going to be able to do that without looking at different ways of working

The meet the shortfall the council is looking at cuts worth £7m to its learning difficulties budget including the possible of three of its nine day centres.

Savings of around £719,000 are expected as new block contracts for private home care providers come on stream and the authority is also seeking to save £500,000 through renegotiating some of the costlier care packages it funds.

Other cuts plans include:

charging for day care - £250,000.

tearing up contracts with the voluntary sector that no longer fit corporate objectives - £200,000.

scrapping the bathing service subsidy - £54,000.

Harold Bodmer, director of adult social services, said the department was not able to trim any more from its costs and still deliver services.

“The measures proposed contain a worrying degree of difficulty,” he said. “In terms of deliverability this is as far as we can go,” he said.

Opposition parties have condemned the cuts as savage.

But Lib Dem councillor David Callaby suggested that a cross-party working group should be set up to look at options in detail.

“This is above party politics,” he said. “There are difficult decisions that are going to have to be made and I wonder if we ought to be looking at a cross party working group to look at the proposals.”