SLOUGH Borough Council will “just about” deliver the bare minimum in adult social care as it faces ‘unprecedented’ demand and financial pressures.

Bosses are having to make savings of nearly £4m in adult social care this year and have a target to make about £7.7m in savings in the draft 2022/23 budget to balance its books.

The council is having to make major savings and cuts across all services, including statutory services, due to gargantuan financial pressures.

Like all local authorities across the country, Slough Borough Council has a legal responsibility to fund adult social care and ensure it is delivering quality services.

Councillors heard at a people scrutiny panel member on Thursday, November 11, the savings officers are proposing are compliant to the law but will only “just about” deliver the bare minimum in adult social care.

Speaking at the meeting, executive director of people (adults) Alan Sinclair said: “We are compliant with those acts [the care act and mental health act] currently.

“The savings that we’re proposing to you for this year and next year will keep us within those responsibilities and that statutory responsibility but does take us down to the bare minimum of delivery against those statutory responsibilities.

“That’s the challenge for us, we will just about meet out statutory responsibilities for this year and next year and that’s dependant on a whole range of other risks.”

Slough is in the same boat with other local authorities where the pandemic has prompted an increase in demand from people needing support, with not enough staff to meet this pressure.

Mr Sinclair said nationally it’s difficult to recruit social workers of the quality they need due to them not being paid enough.

As part of the cuts, its adult social care transformation will deliver a bulk of the savings, as services are either delivered differently or ceased entirely.

The transformation is on track to deliver over £2m-worth of savings this year and council bosses are hoping for a £4.7m reduction in 2022/23.

Part of this programme was the closure of the provider services and day centres operated by the council and opt for services run by other providers in order to save a total of £1.1m.

Councillors heard this saving is achievable and all 107 user assessments are complete and all users have been allocated a social worker.

The council will also be trialling a shared living service, which sees residents providing supported living for people who need it in their family homes.

It was trialled in Oxfordshire and the families are paid after they go through a “rigorous process” and criminal background check. This will supposedly save over £200,000.

The “most challenging” part of the programme is to reduce costs on targeted care by £2.6m in the next three years as care provider costs are going up.

Cllr Natasa Pantelic (Lab: Cippenham Meadows), lead member for social care and public health, said: “There are robust conversations and interrogation of the numbers now, so I’m really confident what you’re seeing this evening will be delivered this year and the figures identified so far for next year.”

Mr Sinclair warned current vacant posts won’t enable the team to deliver the transformation “at speed” and are using consultancy partners Peopletoo to help with its delivery, which is adding pressure to the budget.