ON the face of it, social work has fared well in SBC's revenue budget, being allocated £76.85million or 28 per cent of total council spending of £268.9million.
That share is up from 25 per cent last year, reflecting the fact that under the Transforming Children’s Services review, the department has taken over from education in delivering special teaching to the 1,600 Borders children with additional suppor
t needs.
But on Monday it emerged that while there will be £1.5million extra spending to cover “service pressures and developments”, there will be more than £2million in so-called efficiency savings and a further £100,000 in rationalisations (cuts).
The new spending will include £100,000 to increase allowances paid to foster carers by 9.8 per cent, bridging the gap between what is currently paid by SBC and the figure recommended by the National Foster Care Association, and an extra £28,000 for so-called kinship carers – non-parent family members who look after children.
A further £810,000 in new money will meet the costs of increased client numbers and more complex care packages for older people as demographic studies predict a 28 per cent increase in the region’s over-65s over the next decade.
Two additional housing support officers dealing with homeless people will be employed (£54,000), a four-bed transitional unit at Albert Place, Galashiels, will be adapted for young people leaving care (£70,000) and £147,000 will increase the provision of respite care.
The £2million savings will come from a variety of measures. Staff duty rotas at the five- bed children’s home at Wheatlands in Galashiels will be redesigned (£100,000), transport arrangements for older people and adults with learning disabilities will be modified, with an emphasis on more efficient use of vehicles (£500,000), and service contracts with private and voluntary sector providers will be renegotiated (£222,000).
A further £75,000 will be saved in housing support by sending fewer homeless people to bed-and-breakfast accommodation, and care packages for clients will be reviewed (£100,000).
Henceforth, utility bills incurred by people in homeless accommodation will be met by the clients, not the council (£40,000). SBC also hopes to save £100,000 as a result of reviewing the eligibility of Borderers for home care.
As predicted in TheSouthern last month there will be 2 per cent across-the-board increase in all existing social work charges, including the Bordercare alarm system, while the price of frozen meals at home will rise from £2.37 to £2.60: up nearly 10 per cent. Users of the latter service will face an even bigger increase with the removal of all subsidy on meals, which cost the council £3.21, scheduled for next year.
The discretionary grants paid to groups and individuals for parenting support will be scrapped (£35,000), while £63,000, out of a budget of £163,000, will be removed from the training of voluntary organisations.
