No elderly or vulnerable people will be left abandoned despite Fife Council social work service projecting an overspend by the end of this year of more than £4.5 million.
That assurance has been given by Fife Council leader Councillor Alex Rowley, who acknowledged that deeper and deeper budget cuts would make it harder for targets to be met .
However, he ”took issue” with some recent headlines that suggested Fife Council was running out of money.
In a report to the executive committee, executive director for finance and resources Brian Livingston said the projected social work overspend had arisen due to higher demand than budgeted for child placements, nursing and residential care and care at home packages for older people.
The committee heard an additional 30 children, including a significant number under five, had recently been taken into care over and above predicted budgets.
Most of these children had been removed from parents where drink and drugs were prevalent.
Education, social and communities scrutiny committee chairwoman Susan Leslie said councillors did not want an overspend that could ”wipe out” next year’s budget.
Independent councillor Andrew Rodger, who is the council’s executive spokesperson for health, said he felt that downward trends in the ability to provide care had been ”ignored” for too long.
With ”tough decisions” required to ensure the right levels of investment, Mr Rowley has called on Fife Council’s executive director for social work Stephen Moore to bring a report on the overspend to the next executive committee on January 15.
With almost £200 million of the council’s £800 million budget going to social work services at a time when it is trying to save £66 million, plans to invest a further £3 million in services to support Fife’s most vulnerable people are out for public discussion.