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'Government promise that could cripple us'
Free care for the elderly could end up costing Bucks County Council almost £30 million.
Looking after vulnerable adults already takes up a third of the total County Hall budget and if council taxpayers were made to fund that extra cost it would add 14 per cent to our tax bill.
The government has put forward plans expected to be in effect from October that would mean care for the elderly at home – but Whitehall has already admitted that it is underfunding the scheme by 500 million.
Local authorities like Bucks will have to meet the shortfall which it reckons could amount to anything from 1 million to as much as 28 million.
The biggest uncertainty for council budget setters comes in what government decides should count as someone's home and how severe their needs are.
If residential care is included as well as private houses then the cost will be closer to the high end and if it does fall to the more expensive option then it will throw this year's budget for the entire council, not just elderly care, into real doubt.
Bucks County Council leader Councillor David Shakespeare said that as the authority works out its spending plans for the coming year there are two big issues that could have an effect on the budget.
The first is an increase of 30 per cent of the number of children being taken into care.
He said: "The other one is the free care for the elderly gimmick from the government and we have no idea whether that would cost us 1 million a year or the highest estimate is between 27 million and 28 million a year.
"It's absolutely frightening and would destroy our budget. If the plan gets through it will take several months of operation before we know where we are between that 1 million and 28 million."
Another problem he has highlighted is in the fairness of the scheme.
If someone has had to sell their home to be able to afford residential care then they may feel put out and could have very real grounds to appeal to the European Courts.
Mike Colston, cabinet member for adults and family wellbeing, has said that the budget will need to be looked at again when the free care legislation comes into force.
He said: "There's not a lot of money available in the system. I welcome anything that moves towards end of life care for people who are very vulnerable being paid for by county.
"I am not critical that this is being proposed, I am concerned that it's been proposed in such a hurry.
"We are in the process of finalising an already very difficult budget.
"To be suddenly hit by this at the last moment is an unfortunate double whammy.
"If 'home' is defined too literally so that it can include people in residential care homes, then our modelling costs are phenomenal.
"It would mean a very significant change to the way we deliver our care.
"We would have to soak up that cost and that would be extremely serious for the type of services that we deliver."
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has said that it backs the idea for free care for the elderly but raises concerns about the funding.
Mr Colston said there are three different strands to working with the elderly, detailed below, and each one needs to be looked at to balance the portfolio's finances.
He said that the first one is prevention. "If we can slow people going into care down by a week, a month, six months or a year from entering into institutional care the money we save can be redeployed elsewhere."
The second stage is for people to stay in their own homes for as long as possible: "People live longer if they are at home and there's a reason for that.
"Their homes are where their memories are. Its where their things are, it's where their nest is."
Finally there is residential care which has been modernised across Bucks with four new care homes and another four currently being prepared.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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