Newsroom

Councillor Boyd Elliott – Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Adult Social Care & Public Health Committee 

The virus known as Covid-19 has had an enormous impact on our adult social care & public health department over the last two years. This much-needed council service, already navigating the challenge of an ageing population, was tested to the extreme.

Of course, our fantastic service staff all met the task head-on. I knew our team would.  Unfortunately, the pressure did not ease in the winter with the appearance of the Omicron variant; despite it being considered a ‘mild’ strain.

The Christmas period was the biggest challenge. The assistance we offered, such as home care, mental health services, and community social care, faced increased demand. At the same time, we had fewer staff resources available because of the highly transmissible nature of Omicron.  

At February’s full council meeting, I explained to my fellow councillors how proud I am of my service and the resilience shown by our staff during the pandemic. The same meeting approved the council’s budget for 2022/23, which we delivered as a balanced budget – our focus is on doing the same for the next three financial years.

I also set out at our budget meeting how we expect to continually fund the high-quality care provided by our adult social care team in future years.

We have already received £2.3m from the government, as part of its adult and social care winter plan, to sustain home care services through extra support for recruiting and retaining staff which is one of our greatest pressure points.

We will, of course, continue to fund services through our departmental budget and have pledged an extra £778,000 for our mental health support services. This investment is essential, given that we received 1,150 referrals to our mental health services in the last six months of 2021.

The Prime Minister’s ‘Build Back Better’ plan for adult and social care will make a significant difference. The additional funding from the new health and social care levy will raise £36bn nationwide. A new £86,000 cap on individual care costs will also be introduced.

We are also ambitious for the government’s policy paper published in December – People at the Heart of Care - with associated financial commitments including £1.4 billion over three years to help local authorities offer a fairer cost of care to providers. 

Adult and social care funding has been a bone of contention for many years. Still, this government is doing more than ever to plug the gap, and with the council’s commitment to a sound financial footing, I am confident as we plan the future of this tremendous service.