Royal Greenwich Cabinet Recommends Protection Of Social Care Services At Budget Meeting

* Cllr Denise Hyland

by our RBG Correspondent | Woolwich

Vital social care services for vulnerable adults and children would be protected under the budget recommendations agreed by the Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday 27 January.

In its proposals to the Full Council – which meets on 24 February to set the council tax rate for 2016/17 – the Cabinet outlined a four-year programme of savings, aimed at protecting vital front-line services.

The measures proposed would see additional funding invested in social care services for adults and children, with council tax rising to help meet the cost.

The proposed increase results from changes in the way local councils are funded by the Government, which is allocating its funding on the assumption that councils will raise council tax by two per cent to cover the increasing cost of adult social care services.

The Government has also said that it expects councils to raise council tax by a further amount to cover inflation. Greenwich’s proposals would see all of this additional increase used to protect children’s social care.

Leader of the Royal Borough Cllr Denise Hyland (top right) said: “This would see Council Tax in the borough rise by 2% for adult social care and an additional 1.99% for children’s social care."

“I’m pleased that the Chancellor has recognised the need for extra funding to support adult social care, but the pressures on children’s social care are increasing to a similar extent."

“We are making wide-ranging changes to services to ensure they are delivered more efficiently – while at the same time offering support to help people become more self-reliant. Even so, the level of demand for care services continues to rise, which means we need to plan ahead and ensure sufficient services are in place."

“The proposals for an increase in council tax – Greenwich’s first in nine years – will help ensure those services can continue to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in our community.”