Issue - meetings

Miss M Goldsmith, Directorate Financer Manager, was in attendance for this and the following item.

1)         Mr Leidecker introduced the report and said that the latest monitoring had forecast a reduced overspend, and that he was confident that the Directorate would achive a balanced budget at the year end. The Directorate was making ongoing savings and efficiencies.  Mr Leidecker and Miss Goldsmith answered questions of detail from Members, as follows; -

a)         the number of clients receiving in house domicilliary care services showed a higher turnover because more clients were moving to  enabling services rather than staying on domicilliary care for any length of time;

b)         none of the Directorate’s contingency fund was allocated per se, but it had all been used to suppress or offset budget pressures;

c)         KASS vacancy rates and staff turnover remained very low compared to the average rates for the rest of the KCC;

d)         although numbers of delayed transfers had increased in East Kent, the percentage for which KASS was responsible had shown no  appreciable increase; and

e)         in response to a question about KASS’s robust monitoring and budget management, Mr Leidecker confirmed that much time and effort was spent on monthly monitoring and forecasting, and the exercise was complex. Although it was expected that the overspend of £770,000 would be cleared by the year end, if it was reduced to £500,000, this amount would represent only 0.1% of the Directorate’s overall budget.  This illustrated the tight margins within which this demand-led budget was managed.  Events like severe weather conditions always added demand to the budget.

2)         In discussion, one Member expressed concern about the level of client debt and how this was monitored and dealt with.  Key concerns were that increasing debt year on year was unsatisfactory and debt should not be allowed to drift, assessment of a client’s ability to repay debt must be fair and compassionate, and controls must be effective.  He sought a statement of management action being taken to address and contain debt.

3)         Mr Mills assured Members that the Directorate’s Senior Management Team was rigorous in monitoring levels of debt each month and offered to share the new action plan, which had been started in October 2009 to address debt, which Members welcomed.  He added that KASS always took action if the level of debt became unreasonable, having pursued court proceedings in past cases, and should not be seen as ‘a soft touch’. Bailiffs would ever be used in extreme cases.  A new debt recovery team, as part of the new action plan, would make recovery easier by starting action earlier.

4)         RESOLVED that:-

            a)         the report, and Members’ comments ion it, be noted; and

b)         a further report on client debt be submitted to a future meeting of the POSC, to allow Members to take a closer look at the issue.