I recently shared how new council structures in Essex would reduce duplication. By reducing duplication we can reduce the expense of delivering services for you, the taxpayer.
Creating new councils is a complicated business, but one that will be so worth it in the end.
It involves splitting up council services currently run on a county basis. A good example is adult social care.
Adult social care is the largest service the new councils will run. It accounts for roughly half of all the county council’s existing spend. The service provides support to the most vulnerable adults in Essex, including the elderly. It is demand-led and, because of the make-up of our communities, costs more in some areas of the county than others. This is true in the north-east of Essex for example, where many older people have retired to.
There are also misconceptions about adult social care. People often think it is all about older people, when the largest portion of its budget goes on working-age adults with learning disabilities or autism, other disabilities, and mental health issues.
Three councils - the County Council, Southend and Thurrock Councils, currently provide adult social care. When the new councils are created, more councils would potentially have this responsibility.
Providing good quality care is something our residents expect us to continue. If we get the new structures wrong, we could compromise our ability to provide this important service. This is why looking at the evidence, costs, and where longer-term trends will take us is so important in our planning.
We have an aging population, so therefore it follows that there is an ever-growing demand for our services. So, we need to strike a balance between continuing to provide good quality care at an affordable price for taxpayers.
If we create too many new councils, that balance might be tipped. That’s because the more new councils we create, the more it costs you. And if there are too many new councils, the less money there would be for important services like adult social care. That would mean to offer the right quality of care in the future, the new councils would have to ask you to pay more in council tax.
There is another consequence that people often don’t think about. Running services like adult social care requires a lot of people with specialist skills and experience, and these people don’t grow on trees. At the moment, these people work for Essex County Council; but for every additional council, more people with those specialist skills will be needed. That will cost more money.
That is why it’s so important to get the balance right.
We are working hard to strike the right balance for Essex taxpayers and people who rely on services like adult social care for their quality of life. We’re also taking care to reach the right conclusion on how many new councils offers that balance. It’s a complex business driven by a simple equation – keeping as much money as possible in your pockets, while providing the best possible care.
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