Wandsworth's Adult Social Care (ASC) has overspent by £2.6 million due to increased demand, more complex care needs, and rising costs of care services, according to a recent report discussed at the Wandsworth Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 30 June 2025.
The report, a joint effort by the Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Chief Executive, revealed that the committee's remit overspent against a revised budget of £102.197 million in 2024/25. This financial strain is attributed to a combination of factors, including an ageing population with increasingly complex health conditions and market pressures impacting the fees charged by care providers.
These market pressures include increasing inflation and rises in the London Living Wage, which saw a 5.3% increase in 2025/26. The increase in employers' National Insurance, which came into effect in April 2025, is also contributing to higher costs of commissioning care in home care and care home markets. Some care providers are reporting difficulties in maintaining financial sustainability, which may create risks to the stability of the local care market.
The number of people receiving Adult Social Care services has increased over recent years, with 3,323 people receiving services as of March 2025. This represents an increase of 81 people since March 2024 and 219 people since March 2023, particularly within services for adults with mental health needs and services for older people and people with physical disabilities.
To address these financial challenges, the Adult Social Care and Public Health (ASCPH) Directorate is implementing demand management measures through the Transforming Social Care Programme. The aim is to prevent, reduce, or delay the need for social care, ensuring resources are used efficiently. Updates on this programme will be reported to future meetings of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The report also highlighted specific areas contributing to the overspend:
- Early Help and Enablement Service: Overspent by £0.556 million due to a higher-than-forecast number of reablement hours delivered.
- Older People and Physical Disability Services: Overspent by £0.139 million, with a rise in the number of people receiving care.
- Care Services for Adults with Learning Disabilities: Overspent by £1.761 million. This overspend is mainly due to cost increases driven by increasingly complex needs of both existing and new people entering the service and a reduction in the number of care packages accepted as eligible for Continuing Health Care funding (NHS). High-cost transition cases and the ceasing of health funding for packages of care within this service area can have a significant impact the budget.
- Services for Adults with Mental Health Needs: Overspent by £0.786 million, driven by increased demand for home care and supported living. The services for people with Mental Health needs budget was increased by £1.1m in 2024/25 from the service pressures contingency reserve to reflect continued demand growth in this area.
Despite the overspend, the Community Safety area underspent by £0.153 million, attributed to a number of small underspends across various areas.
Looking ahead, an additional budget growth of £6 million has been allocated for 2025/26 to address the increasing client numbers, complexity of needs, and market prices. This additional budget aims to mitigate the potential impact of the overspend on the quality and availability of adult social care services in Wandsworth. In future years this is partially offset by projected efficiencies resulting from the management actions being undertaken by the Directorate. These focus on demand management, improving efficiency, and a more strategic approach to market management which are reflected in the Transforming Social Care (TSC) Programme. The council plans to closely monitor and manage the situation, with the impact of mitigating actions reported to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.