Efforts to keep older people and young people with disabilities in their Sutherland homes has led to an overspend in the region’s social work services budget.

Area community care manager Larry Wilmot will today tell members of the Sutherland county committee, meeting in Brora, that they expect to go GBP16,000 over budget by the end of the financial year.

In a report to the committee, he states that the overspend is due to the continued demand for care at home support services, including home care, direct payments and support through the independent sector.

He writes: “This is due to demographic issues of the number of older people and younger people with disabilities in Sutherland supported in the community.” Mr Wilmot reports that a significant amount of money is being spent on home-care provision that does not impact on the right people, at the right times of the day and week.

And he says the service is being redesigned to ensure support to those people who need the more intensive service, including at evenings and weekends, rather than providing inappropriately directed care.

He adds that the budget has been put under further pressure by Highland Council’s requirement that social work services find savings of GBP3million as a consequence of the local government settlement.

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