Agenda item

Members are asked to bring with them to the meeting their copy of the Budget, circulated on 7 January.

Item B3

(Mr N J D Chard, Cabinet Member for Finance, was present for this item)

(Miss M Goldsmith, Directorate Finance Manager, was in attendance for this item)

(1)         Miss Goldsmith introduced the report and referred to the special Informal Member Group (IMG) on the Medium Term Plan which had been convened at the POC’s November meeting and met on 20 November 2008.  The notes of the IMG had been agreed earlier in the meeting as an accurate record, and the discussion which took place at the IMG was acknowledged as being most helpful.

(2)         In response to a question from Mr Christie, Miss Goldsmith confirmed that the increase in pay and prices shown for 2009 had taken account of the proposed 1% pay increase for staff.

(3)         In response to a question from Mr Christie, Mr Leidecker clarified that £500,000 savings shown against Extra Care Sheltered Housing (ECSH) was an estimate based on the number of clients who, it was predicted, would opt to go into ECSH instead of residential care, as ECSH was the less expensive of the two options.  Mr Leidecker added, however, that the modelling used to estimate patterns was complicated and adjustments between Budget headings (particularly for older persons’ services) would always be made as the year progressed.

(4)         Responding to a similar question from Mrs Newell and Mr Christie, Mr Leidecker and Miss Goldsmith explained the way in which various services’ budget headings related to each other, and how a change in one would cause a change in another as clients moved from using one service to using another.  For example, a decrease in Domiciliary Care spending under both the physical disability and mental health headings corresponded in each case to an increase in spending on Direct Payments.  In preparing the Budget, KASS officers looked at trends in service take-up and used these to predict the demand in the coming year.

(5)    Responding to a question about managing bad debt, Miss Goldsmith explained that the Directorate’s level of debt was monitored monthly and a bad debt provision existed to accommodate the level of debt that would potentially not be paid. The provision is adjusted for on a monthly basis.

(6)       Mr Mills confirmed to Mrs Newell that, under the new national framework, an increase in budget had been made to PCTs to cover Continuing Care.  KASS had achieved a saving from Continuing Care heading as, under the national framework, some people who would previously have been funded by KASS were now the responsibility of the NHS. Mr Mills emphasised that patterns were very difficult to predict as not all Continuing Care clients were funded by KASS and some were self-funders.

(7)       The Chairman thanked Miss Goldsmith, Mr Mills and Mr Leidecker for their explanations and responses to Members’ questions and said that Members needed to achieve an understanding of the budget setting process and issues in order to fulfil their role of scrutinising and challenging each Directorate’s budgeting and spending.

(8)       RESOLVED that the information contained in the Budget report and the Medium Term Financial Plan for Kent Adult Social Services, and given in response to questions put by Members, be noted, with thanks.