Walsall Council overspends on adult social care as costs continue to rise

Recent data obtained via a freedom of Information request revealed that since the 2018/19 financial year, spending on adult social care within the authority has risen and is expected to continue to rise. 

The authority overspent their budget for the provision of adult social care in 4 of the previous 5 financial years, the outlier being 2020/21, when they were over £1m under budget.

However, all other years in the data set revealed a trend of overspending, the worst coming in 2022/23, when the council overspend by over £5m, marking the largest overspend in the period measured.

A worrying trend for the council was revealed, as the average overspend over the last two years of just under £5m, was more than all 3 previous years combined.

The data also revealed a massive rise in the budget allocated for 2023/24, with £76,801,652 allocated for the budget, it is still unclear whether the authority will overspend over the course of this year.

This could cause issues for the council, with the body attempting to balance its budget ahead of the 2024/25 financial year, following the announcement of a £12.35m gap in funding from the previous year.

The leader of Walsall council, Mike Bird said that while he was optimistic that they could balance the budget, external pressures have affected the process.

In a statement he said, “unprecedented cost of living increases and rising demand on many of our services, particularly within adult social care and children’s services, are causing significant pressures and have made this very challenging.”

Progress has been made since this announcement, a previous financial gap of £18.06m has now been reduced to £12.35m, with further measures on the way to balance the budget ahead of 2024/25.

However, further measures have been approved to generate additional funds, this includes a council tax increase of up to 4.99%. Included within this rise is a general 2.99% increase, as well as a 2% increase to cover the increased cost of adult social care.

Council leader, Mike Bird, attributed the rise in council tax to limited government funding.

“Inevitably, due to limited government funding, we have had to raise council tax and use some of our reserves to balance the budget.”

This issue is not unique to Walsall or the West Midlands, according to findings from the National Audit Office, total spending for all local authorities fell by 26% between 2010/11 and 2020/21. This is further exacerbated by the spending power decrease; in real terms this fell by more than 50% in the same period.

Pranesh Narayanan, a research fellow at IPPR, warned that the situation could continue to worsen for local authorities like Walsall.

“Spending cuts since 2010 have left public services suffering, and as a result the health and wealth of people across the nation have taken a hit. Concerningly, further cuts have been baked in for the coming years, which are likely to disproportionately affect people who are already worse off.

Local councils are often at the coalface. It is crucial services local authorities provide, like social care, waste collection and social housing, that have taken the biggest hit.”

With further cuts to spending planned, councils like Walsall may be forced to make further cuts to vital local services.