Medway seeks urgent ministerial meeting over £26.4m adult social care overspend

A council report says that Medway's adult social care service is facing an overspend of £26.4m for 2026/27. This follows an overspend last year of £14.7m.

The forecast comes as the unitary is in its third year of having to rely on exceptional financial support from the Government in order to balance its books.

A recent assurance review conducted by CIPFA meanwhile recommended that officers amend the adult social care budget "to a more realistic and achievable target within the overall resource envelope available to the council in 2026/27".

However, in a letter to social care minister Alison McGovern, Medway's deputy leader has said such an action "could not be delivered in the timescales needed and more importantly would obliterate many of the discretionary, but much valued services, that all other unitary councils provide".

In the correspondence, Cllr Teresa Murray called for a meeting with the Government to discuss Medway's position "as a matter of urgency".

She said the unitary has historically maintained comparatively low expenditure while delivering significant transformation programmes and a strong commitment to continuous improvement “but nevertheless [is] facing unsustainable financial pressures due to structural funding constraints".

She added: "We would welcome the opportunity to specifically discuss Medway’s position as a matter of urgency in addition to contributing to the ongoing national conversation regarding Adult Social Care."

The letter argues that Medway is facing the pressures despite analysis from the Local Government Association that shows the council spends less on adult social care per person than comparable authorities.

"The evidence indicates that Medway’s financial challenge is therefore not the consequence of disproportionate spending, but rather a mismatch between funding levels and local demand," Cllr Murray said.

At the same time, she warned that Medway is experiencing high cost and demand growth, with some care costs rising by 17% year on year.

The deputy leader also said the council is pursuing transformation programmes that will help curb costs, but said that such plans alone cannot close the scale of the structural funding gap facing Adult Social Care.

"Since day one of this administration, we've been explicitly clear that we are dealing with a difficult set of financial circumstances."

The council’s financial position has seen some members warn that a section 114 notice could be on the horizon.

Medway’s leader of the opposition, Cllr George Perfect, said: "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.”

In a cabinet meeting last week, Medway’s leader, Cllr Vince Maple, meanwhile said the council recognises that more work needs to be done, "but on the issue of adult social care, I think we are at the point where we need to speak directly to Government".

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 quantum and often the complexity of the cases we have."

"We've seen, in the first two weeks of the new prime minister, a big conversation on adult social care is coming down the line as well; so I think in one sense this is the optimum time for us to be saying to Government you need to be specifically looking at this."

Adam Carey