Trafford Council in £6m cock-up

Subject: Trafford Council News Release: Trafford Council to bring forward additional in year savings



Trafford Council  PR 3092    19/06/2014    [For Immediate Release]



Trafford Council to bring forward additional in year savings



Trafford Council is considering further measures to make sure it doesn’t exceed its budget in the current financial year.



Following a review of its budget it was identified that the financial position it had been forecasting would be worse than expected.  The cost of caring for vulnerable people in the borough, particular the elderly and adults with a learning difficulty have increased considerably compared to previous assumptions.  In addition, demand is much higher than anticipated.



Adult Social Care assumptions are made through a complex financial monitoring process which incorporates individual placement costs, existing service users who may leave the care system and new entrants.  Additional demand was not highlighted in the regular budget monitoring reports and was not incorporated into base assumptions when the budget for this year was set in February.



As a consequence, despite allowing for an £2.1m increase in this service areas budget in 2014/15, the Council must now bring forward additional in year savings to ensure the authority remains in budget.



Leader of the Council, Cllr Sean Anstee, said: “This change in our financial position is disappointing as we already face a difficult task of balancing our budget in 2015/16.  The additional costs arise from our duty to care for some of the most vulnerable people in the borough and we take our responsibilities seriously.  All expenditure is being legitimately incurred and social care is by far the largest area of spend within the Council, of which we have a statutory duty to support.



I have asked for a detailed review into what happened and what lessons can be learned.



The Council must now find ways of saving a considerable amount of money, in the order of up to £6 million, to stay within our set budget for 2014/15.  Options for doing this are currently being formulated and will be considered by Elected Members in the coming months."





Trafford Council, Marketing and Communications Team, 0161 912 1256.



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