Homecare budgets set to be overspent by £2.9 million (76%) in York

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The amount likely to be spent on community support (mainly home care) is set to break the York Council budget this year. Expenditure of £6.6 million is being reported against a budget of £3.8 million.

Direct payments (where clients make their own care arrangements from a given budget) are set to exceed its £2.6 million budget by £0.4 million.

The residential car budget will also be overspent by £470,000.

These are amongst the worst projected budget outturn figures ever reported to a Social Services meeting which is being held only 2 months before the end of the financial year.

An officer report on the crisis says, “the Homecare service has been substantially redesigned and has been successful in signposting customers with low level needs to other forms of provision. This has meant that the number of customers has remained stable despite the growth in the number of potential customers, but it does also mean that the customers receiving the service have more complex needs.

This is one reason why, despite unit costs going down following the outsourcing of the service weekly, spend on our home care contracts has increased from £54k a week in July 2011 to £82k a week in December 2012.

In March 2011 there were 553 customers receiving 7 hours a week home care on average.

There are currently 720 customers (on the tiered contracts alone) receiving an average of 8.1 hours of care per week”.

The York Council is due to announce in early February its budget plans for the forthcoming year. It is likely to increase Council tax levels by 2% and spurn government offers of additional grant aid.

It will need to act decisively if it is to bring the quality and costs of social services back under control

Serious assault in Acomb – appeal for witnesses

Police in York are investigating a serious assault which occurred on Acomb Road, Acomb, on the corner of Fairfax Court, at about 7.40pm on Monday 21 January 2013.

As a result of the incident, a 50-year-old local man suffered a head injury and was taken by ambulance to York District Hospital.

A 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with the investigation. They remain in police custody for questioning.

Witnesses or anyone with information that could assist the investigation are asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for York CID.

Alternatively, information can be passed on anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Council seeking project managers for new Community Stadium

Community Stadium

Community Stadium

The Council are offering salaries of around £35,000 each for 3 managers who will supervise the procurement of the new Community Stadium at Monks Cross.

The Council is only advertising the posts internally at present rather than on their jobs web site*

The stadium now has planning permission but it is likely that the Council will try to let a design/build/manage contract which could mean that the building will not be ready for use until 2016.

The stadium will provide a home for the City’s Football and Rugby League clubs.

*NB. The Council’s job site rather famously now features job descriptions translated into Turkish, Polish and Chinese. A “welcome to York” video also features a Council official who left the Authority over 6 months ago.

York Police update on road conditions and accidents

The Police have issued this brief update regarding the number of collisions across North Yorkshire and the City of York.

There have been 18 incidents across the county where the severe weather has made driving conditions hazardous or has meant that roads have been blocked for short periods of time.

During the day there have been 19 collisions. The vast majority of these caused vehicle damage, with only three involving minor injuries.

The first occurred at around 8.45am on the A64 near Malton, when a Peugeot travelling on the eastbound carriageway left the road and ended up in a ditch before hitting a road sign. The woman driving the car did not need any treatment as a result of the collision.

At around 8.50am a grey BMW, which had been on the southbound carriageway of the A1, left the roads near to Newby Hall. The man driving the car did not require any medical treatment

There was also a collision involving an articulated lorry which left the B1248 at Wharram, near Malton, at around 9.35am. The man driving the lorry suffered a back injury and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

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