Dundee health chiefs are set to use millions of pounds worth of reserves to balance the books as next year’s budget is approved.
Members of the Integration Joint Board (IJB) met on Wednesday to agree the finances available for community-based services in the next financial year.
Ahead of the meeting, board members had been warned the IJB was facing its biggest ever budget gap as the partnership grappled with increasing demand.
This meant that millions of pounds worth of savings had to be found to ensure the budget was balanced.
But how exactly is the IJB plugging the financial blackhole?
Making use of reserves
The approved budget will see the IJB use £4 million of its reserves to help balance the books.
This is due to the anticipated level of reserves available to the IJB at the start of the 2024/25 financial year.
Reduction in care home placements
The health and social care partnership has identified £1.1 million worth of savings by reducing the number of care home placements by 34.
The reduction is not anticipated to have a negative impact due to an already decreasing demand and need for care home placements.
A budget report added: “Actual in-year demand for placements will be monitored via operational management teams and any excess need/demand will be identified and managed accordingly.”
Review of day care services
In-house and commissioned day provision for older people is to be reviewed in a bid to save £400,000.
The IJB budget report says this will better support the needs of individuals closer to home and better utilise available capacity and services across the city.
Review of contractual commitments
Around £300,000 is expected to be saved through a review of contractual arrangements for services arrangements supporting people with learning disabilities and mental health challenges.
The review will look at the demand for these services and their capacity to “ensure efficiency and potential rebasing of some contract values”.
Increase in charges to Dundee City Council
Increases in the rates charged to Dundee City Council’s housing department for out-of-hours community response to sheltered housing tenants is expected to raise £34,000.
Redirecting existing budgets underspends
Around £1.4m will be saved by capping the budgets of areas which consistently underspend their allocated funds.
The surplus budget will subsequently be redirected to other areas.
Pension scheme reductions
The approved budget will see the employee contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme reduced from 17% to 15.7%.
This, budget papers detail, is a decision made by Dundee City Council and is expected to save £300,000.
Staff costs
Costs relating to staff within the Health and Social Care Partnership’s budget have been consistently underspent over the last three financial years, budget papers reveal.
This is due to challenges in hiring staff and not because of any policy decision to stop or slow down recruitment.
These problems are expected to continue throughout the 2024/25 financial year and the approved budget will be adjusted to “reflect the reality of the situation”.
This is expected to wield savings of around £1.3m.
Conversation