WIREDGOV

The Local Government Association's ‘Adult Social Care Efficiency programme' will help town halls examine the services they provide to the elderly and most vulnerable members of society and identify where they can further improve efficiency and productivity.

Under the two-year scheme councils apply for grants to help develop new ways to transform services and procure external support in order to make significant cost savings that have minimal impact of front line services.

The programme will work with participants to support them to implement agreed changes and ensure the authority is able to make required budget savings and best deliver value for money to the taxpayer. 

It will also highlight case studies, examples of lessons learnt and best practice techniques that will be used for the benefit of the wider local government sector and work towards building a broader policy vision for the future provision of social care.

Councillor Peter Fleming, Chairman of the LGA's Improvement Board, said: "Adult social care is one of the most important services councils manage, accounting for a huge amount of money and affecting some of our most vulnerable citizens.

"Councils have led the rest of the public sector in becoming more efficient, but current challenges mean that they still need to deliver more for every pound they spend."

The 2010 Spending Review recognised that there is pressure on social care budgets and government noted that to support current needs councils would be required to undertake ambitious programmes of efficiency in adult social care.

Councillor David Rogers, Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, said: "Councils are committed to doing the very best for people in later life and despite a 28 per cent funding cut from government, council spending on adult services this year is expected to fall by just 2.5 per cent, the lowest for any service area.

"We are working hard to squeeze every pound but faced with the long-term triple pressures of insufficient funding, growing demand and escalating costs, as well as the drive towards more personalised services, there simply isn't enough money to do everything we used to.

"Local government is the most efficient part of the public sector and councils will continue to work to cut red-tape, make back office savings, link services, work better with the voluntary sector and explore a whole range of other innovations to ensure we are continuing to meet the needs of the elderly and most vulnerable in our society."

Success will be based on ‘key indicators' relevant to the changes authorities choose to implement and outlined in the application for funding. This could include numbers admitted to residential care and numbers with ongoing care requirements post reablement.

More than 40 applications for grants were received and more than 50 councils from across the country will take part in the programme. Average funding per application will be £20,000, while joint regional bids will receive funding of up to £60,000.

The programme has received £700,000 funding from the LGA and £300,000 funding from the Department of Health.

The LGA has called for root and branch reform of how the current adult social care system is funded and for the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission and Law Commission to be implemented to ensure the system is fairer, simpler and fit for purpose.

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Aurthor: LGA Media Office
Contact: LGA Media Office, Telephone: 020 7664 3333

For more information, see our website pages on the Adult Social Care Efficiency programme

Adult Social Care Efficiency programme

Organisations set to receive funding include:

Lincolnshire, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Southend, Suffolk, Peterborough, Kingston, Richmond, Hounslow, Hackney, Croydon, Barking and Dagenham (jointly with Havering), Havering (jointly with B&D), Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Enfield, Gateshead, Durham, Stockton, South Tyneside, Darlington (jointly with R&C, Hartlepool), Redcar & Cleveland (jointly with Darlington, Hartlepool), Hartlepool (jointly with R&C, Darlington), Northumberland  Care Trust, Warrington MBC, Wirral, Tameside, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Cumbria, Stockport, Liverpool, Hampshire, Kent, Portsmouth, Berkshire unitaries, Swindon, Poole, Torbay, Wiltshire, Solihull MBC, Coventry, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Yorkshire and Humberside authorities, Bradford, Calderdale

The Spending Review set out real terms reductions of 28 per cent in local government budgets over the next four years and the LGA estimates a funding gap in the order of £6.5 billion for 2011/12. Adult social care is not immune to the impact of these cuts and evidence from ADASS suggests the service budget has already been reduced by nearly £1 billion."

The Audit Commission's 'Tough times' report from November shows that councils have gone to great lengths to protect their budgets for services to vulnerable people, including adults with care needs and looked-after children, as much as possible. These are the biggest spending areas in councils outside of education.

Tough times – Councils' responses to a challenging financial climate – on the Audit Commission's website