Before we look at cut backs in this years 2007/2008 budget let us go back slightly in time and see what this callous Tory administration has done to the social services budget over the past 4 years.

2002/2003

The last Labour administration whilst setting the budget in 2002/2003 put up the council tax by a mere 2.3 percent or 32 pence a week.  As opposed to this the tories propose to increase the council tax for 2007/08 by 4.95 percent.  In a memo sent by the then council leader on the 17th July 2002  to all the managers and to members of the then council said "we want to pay our staff well, to value their contribution and to give them opportunities to develop their skills", & "improve the housing strategy" and then this Tory administration this year makes a saving of £100,000 in the training budget in Social Services and in Housing has still to achieve a 2 star rating.

2003/2004

The then cabinet member before increasing home care charges carried out a consultation.  From the responses received a majority of 2 to 1 rejected the proposal. In 10 months he increased the home care charges by a massive 140 percent.  The 1st hike of 40 percent from £83.50 to £100 came in October 2002, on the heels of the 1st hike a second hike soon followed doubling home care charges from £100 to £200.  All this to save a mere £190,000.

Despite the above, an overspend of £770,000 was identified in the home care budget and was carried forward as a pressure in 2004/05 budget.
The administration put in £302,000 and cut £468,000.  From 1st September 03 they cut £100,000 from a scheme that offered the opportunity for 60 people with a "learning disability to attend Redbridge College on a part time basis, offering independence, employment and leisure." Another cut of £51,000 was Redbridge's contribution to home treatment teams who provided an alternative to hospital care for people with severe & enduring  mental illness in acute distress by providing treatment in the community.

2004/2005

The original additional grant announcement for Redbridge by the government was £11,397,000.  The Chancellor in his pre-budget speech then announced a further £1,535,000 making the total formula grant settlement to £12,933,000 in real cash terms or an increase of 6.8 percent which increased the Social Services budget by 7 percent.  Yet the administration had savings/cuts amounting to £2,967,000

2006/2007

Officers identified budget pressures in the Social Services budget of £2,486,000.  A total of £1,840,500 was taken as savings/cuts, and the Tory administration put in £646,000.  Cabinet budget papers also projected a council tax increase of around 3.5% instead it has gone upto 4.95%.

The total base budget for learning disabilities was £12,252,000 and year end projection was £13,049,000 with an overspend of £797,000. Despite this huge projected overspend the administration only put into this budget a paltry £71,000 just to cover inflation.

2007/2008

Budget growth for 2007/2008 is absolutely zip/zero/zilch/nil.

Community care budget

Cc302 - cut of £100,000  - reduce the amount spent on training. Out of a total training function budget of £587,000, £100,000 or 17.25% has been taken out to be used for "direct care expenditure". This budget was increased by government by £128,000 from April 2005 but sadly "was not ringfenced" so monies from this budget are being used to fund something else.

Cc303 - a cut of £150,000 - the use of supporting people grant
The total budget for this "supporting people grant" is £4,467,863 and is £254,451 more than the 2006/2007 figure of £4,213,412.  

Cc305 - a cut of £1,600,000 proposal to restrict access to care services by setting the care criteria to `critical & greater substantial' service users. This is the most callous proposal of all. It is estimated that 65% of about 1158 service users will fall into the `greater substantial' category and 35% of service users will fall into the `lesser substantial' category.  Out of 1158 the 35% form 404 individuals.
These Cabinet proposals were agreed at Cabinet on the 15th January 07 and consultation began on the 18th January 07.  Why couldn't the administration wait until at least after this Scrutiny Committee had met and had a closer look at the proposals? This proposal also assumes a 40% turnover, i.e. 40 people out of a 100 have to die to achieve these savings.

There are no London Boroughs with more limited criteria than Redbridge and 13 of the 32 allow moderate needs as well. The model being proposed for consultation in Redbridge was adopted in Northamptonshire in october 2006, and it must be said that there is no historical case to indicate if this will work. The risk of reducing services available to those in lesser needs is that this can escalate their levels of dependency and can lead to higher and more costly dependency arising more quickly. The research evidence indicates that reductions in lower level interventions can lead to reduced value for money. This proposal would invite significant user and carer resistance.

Learning disability budget

Ld301 -  a cut of £100,000 proposal to restrict access to care services by setting the care criteria to `critical & greater substantial' service users. Exactly the same applies to this cut as it does to the above.

To recap

Officers outlook/pressure identified       
£3,452,000.00
This is what the administration put in         
£2,168,000.00          

Shortfall           
£1,284,000.00

On top of this savings taken were                £2,079,000.00        

Shortfall           
£ 3,363,000.00

Monies put in social services budget
£89,000.00                                        

Total shortfall           
£3,274,000.00

A great socialist once said "conservatism offers no redress for the present and makes no preparation for the future".  How true