Finance

Social Care is funded from taxpayers, via allocations from Central Government and also from contributions to services from some individuals. As such local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that all income is utilised to deliver services which are both cost effective and efficient. Darlington Borough Council does this by ensuring that services are regularly monitored and reviewed and are able to clearly demonstrate Value for Money (VFM).

Demand from both an increasing ageing population and individuals with complex needs places significant challenges on the Council to meet this demand from within existing resources. This will only be achieved by demand management, strengths-based assessments, and service redesign.

This section provides further detail on how Darlington has spent its adult social care budget over recent years. The expenditure data can be broken down using filters by Age Groups, Service types and Primary Support Reasons.

Coming Soon

This Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) sets out the forecast financial resources that are needed and also that are available for the Council to deliver its key priorities.
Since the last MTFS was agreed by Council in October 2021, a number of factors have affected the financial outlook for the Council.

Externally, the war in Ukraine and the pandemic has led to inflation increasing beyond the provisions in the previous MTFS, with the cost-of-living crisis notably around food, fuel and utility prices across the country.
Internally work has begun to identify and address the in-year inflationary pressures andprogressing the three-year budget approach agreed in December 2021. This approach was in line with the agreed approach for the planned use of reserves of £20m to allow time to identify cuts and efficiencies required over a three-year planning period.

Based on local estimates outlined in this report, the council estimates that overall, it will need to close a cumulative financial gap of £55m to 2027/28. In calculating the gap, £14m
reserves has been applied over the medium term in line with the agreed approach (£6m in 2022/23). In addition, the gap assumes use of pandemic reserves of £8.9m in the current
year, £13.5m in 2023/24 and £3m in 2024/25.

https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/3639/Medium-Term-Financial-Strategy-MTFS

Last updated 29th August 2023

Adult Social Care is funded through council budgets that are reviewed regularly to focus on priority spend areas, with those priorities based on the commissioning intentions highlighted earlier.

Budgets continue to be a challenge, however, the council continues to prioritise services for vulnerable people.

We would encourage providers coming into this marker to provide innovative and collaborative solutions to meet our residents needs in imaginative, safe and effective ways.

The council’s medium term financial strategy is provided here.  This tool provides an analysis of spend over the previous 5 years, including breakdowns across service types.

Local authorities are funded by the taxpayer, they receive income from services they deliver and have a duty to ensure that any income is spent in the most beneficial way for the local population.

This section provides further detail on how Middlesbrough has spent its social care budget over recent years.

RCBC is Public Funded from taxpayers, via the Government, as such we have a responsibility to ensure that all income is utilised to deliver services effectively and efficiently, by exercising the principles of Value for Money (VFM), on behalf of the public.

The demand from a rising population of older people requires significant improvement in efficiency and service re-design to respond to need within available resources. To be in line with the actual resources which are likely to be available over the next five years the distribution of spend, along with demand, needs to be managed differently.

South Tyneside has developed a comprehensive Medium Term Financial Plan which details priorities, budgets and savings targets. The plan can be found here: South Tyneside Council | Medium Term Financial Plan 2022-2027.

The effects of the pandemic as well as geopolitical factors and the subsequent cost of living crisis, have placed considerable pressure on local authority finances.

Despite delivering £183m savings over the course of twelve years, financial challenges persist. Existing and anticipated changes to central government funding, as well as increasing demands and duties, ensure that budgets remain tight.

From a social care perspective, services face pressure from an ageing population and needs which are becoming increasingly complex. This, alongside the aforementioned factors, means that the council faces challenges to meet demand from resources which are depleting in real terms.

In light of challenges, providers in the market are encouraged to adopt creative and collaborative solutions to meet needs in creative ways which remain safe and effective.

The section below sets out adult social care spend over the last five years. Comparative expenditure data can be broken down by age, service type and primary reason.

UPDATED APRIL 2024