Medway Council ask for government help due to Social Care Costs
The council spend over a million every day on social care and temporary accommodation
Medway Council is to write to the government asking for support as it battles to fund huge increases in social care costs.
Leader Cllr Vince Maple (Lab) has revealed the authority is spending more than £1 million a day on people who need support.
And he says more than £5 million a year is being spent helping just 15 vulnerable individuals who have complex needs.
The decision to approach Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper comes as the council faces increasing challenges.
Just three months into the financial year, it is already facing an overall £42.83 million overspend, according to Cabinet papers.
Medway has a legal duty to provide support to vulnerable people, with that money coming from the authority’s day-to-day spending.
The gross annual cost of the care plans being provided through the council has been increasing by an average of 12% year-on-year.
Back in 2021-2022, the cost of provision was £83,883,000, while this year is on track to be £144,835,000 – an increase of £60,952,000.
Cllr Maple said: “We spend more than £1.35 million every single day on adult social care, children’s social care and temporary accommodation.
“We’re in quarter one, there’s more work to do, and we’re not complacent about that. We know particularly with adult social care, there are some specific challenges.
“We as a council are below the national average spend when it comes to that, and we’re also getting below the average from the NHS as well.”
Cllr Maple says over the last three years the authority has actually achieved £70 million in savings through its Financial Improvement and Transformation plan.
But even factoring in adult social care savings of £5.9 million which weren’t included in forecasts, the council will still be left with an overall overspend of £26.724 million.
Of that, £18.695 million will be from adult social care.
On writing to Ms Cooper, Deputy Leader Cllr Teresa Murray said: “The cost is driven not just by statutory responsibility; it’s driven by the moral responsibility that these are the people, the most vulnerable in our community, who deserve our care.
“We are being prudent with our spending. So this challenge is not so much about disproportionate spending; it’s about a mismatch between funding and levels of demand.”
Cllr Maple says that although it is facing huge costs, Medway’s individual per-person spending on adult social activities is lower than the average.
In 2024-25, expenditure was £585 per adult, compared to £633 nationally.
He added: “How can it be that we’re below the England average but we still have that level of overspend? That is because of the set up and often the complexity of the cases we have.
“This is not about the individuals who are receiving that care. That is about making sure we have a system which is fit for purpose in 2026.”
However, opposition leader Cllr George Perfect (Con) warns the financial position of the council is untenable.
He said: “The gap in this year’s budget is nearly as large as some of the entire budgets as some of the other district councils in north Kent.
“Demand seems to be out of control. The administration appears to have got its modelling all wrong.
“And of course, we’ve got significant concerns that if the government doesn’t provide further exceptional financial support in order to underwrite this gap, we’ll have to end up with a Section 114 notice because the council does not have the reserves in order to cover that overspend.”
A Section 114 notice would mean the council would be effectively bankrupt, which is only issued when an authority cannot balance its own budget.
In recent years, Medway has avoided this by seeking exceptional financial support from the Government, allowing it to borrow to fund day-to-day spending, which is normally only allowed for longer-term projects.