Shake-up of Bristol’s social services amid increasing budget pressures

Savings of more than £40m have been agreed for Bristol social services.

Over the next five years both adult and children’s social care in the city will undergo what council bosses have called ‘service-wide transformation’.

Both care systems have faced severe budget squeezes over the past years, and are now looking to change the way they operate to save even more money.

It is hoped adult social care’s Better Lives programme will help bring in between £21m and £28.5m of savings over the next five years. Children’s social care’s Strengthening Families programme will save £21.3m over the same period.

Both programmes will look to manage Bristol City Council’s dwindling funds in a better way to avoid making cuts, though some will question whether the same standards can be upheld with much smaller budgets.

Many of the changes seen in the two services are already underway – such as a £1m scheme to give social workers computer tablets so they can work on the move.

Part of the plan is to triage services better so there is less demand on frontline services.

Helen Holland says the council is improving services, not cutting them

Speaking at a Bristol City Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Helen Holland, cabinet member for adult social services, said: “I really believe we will be able to support people’s needs better.

“I think it really succinctly shows the multiple fronts that we’re working on to transform the way we deliver adult social care in the city. The drivers for that are not just the budget situation – although clearly doing more with less is partly the driver – but actually it’s giving people the care they want, the care their families want and making the best use of the huge range of community groups that we have in Bristol.

“We’re not cutting services, we’re improving them, and we’re getting more value for money out of our public services.”

She said research had shown many people’s issues could be solved without the need for expensive face-to-face meetings with social workers. Instead, the council hopes to save money by helping less needy people find solutions in their communities, such as groups that can help with isolation.

£700,000 has been spent on employing consultants to streamline adult social care services so far.

Eleanor Combley

Eleanor Combley, leader of the Bristol Green group, expressed concern about the unspecified cost of hiring more consultants in the future. She was told that up to £1m has been earmarked.

Responding to her question, Holland added: “But it’s not a blank cheque and we’ll be trying to minimise that spend. I think we can already show the value that the consultants’ work have brought to the Better Lives programme.”

Adult social care has a budget of around £130m.

Cabinet also agreed a £1.8m payment to launch children social care’s Strengthening Families programme.

The report to cabinet said children’s services had faced “significant budget pressures” over the past few years as government funding fell and looking after troubled youngsters becomes more complicated.

The programme hopes to bring the numbers of children in care down, recruit more foster parents and reduce high levels of staff turnover.

Helen Godwin says Bristol has the same pressures as any large city

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Helen Godwin, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We’re all aware of the crisis in adult social care and that’s been well documented in the last decade, but the same challenges are now appearing across the country in children’s social care.

“So far the response from the government has been to do nothing at all. Here in Bristol we’ve got the same pressures as any other large city.”

She said that young people have increasingly complex needs, and those needs had to be met with less money, adding: “This programme wants to transform children’s social care to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children, whilst responding to those pressures on our budget.”

Both programmes were approved.

Jack Pitts is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

Main photo thanks to Destination Bristol.

Read more: Shake-up of social services as Bristol City Council seeks to cut more than £20m