Inverclyde agrees two-year social care budget

The 2026/28 spending and savings plans for the health and social care partnership (HSCP) were approved by the Integration Joint Board (IJB), which oversees the functions of the HSCP on behalf of Inverclyde Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board.

At a meeting on Monday 23 March 2026, a rolling two-year budget was agreed worth in the region of £233 million annually from contributions of £83m from the council and £150m from the health board.

Savings of nearly £6.5m were also approved by the board to address a funding gap covering 2026/28.

These include the loss of 22 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs with the majority of roles being taken from the removal of vacant posts.

An increase in charges for community alarms and the introduction of a fee for day service transport were agreed in principle, subject to public consultation.

The board also approved the use of £757,000 of reserves to help balance the budget.

David Gould, chair of the IJB, said: “In endeavouring to produce a balanced budget, our priority has been to ensure that we continue to focus upon the most vulnerable members of our community who need our assistance and support and the budget has been developed to enable us to continue to do that.

“The financial challenges right across the public sector combined with increasing demand for services means we are in a position where the available funding doesn’t match up with what’s required to deliver services. That’s meant that very tough decisions have had to be taken in order to deliver a balanced budget.

“However, senior officers and the board have worked extremely hard to come up with new and innovative ways of working and by deleting already vacant posts to minimise the impact on staff and service users.

“We hope that by setting a two-year rolling budget, we can provide staff and service users with a degree of certainty over the next two years about the level of service provision that will be available and allow our dedicated and hard-working staff to continue delivering for the people of Inverclyde.”

Due to funding pressures in children and families services, the council has allocated an additional £800k a year to support the services, which are currently being reviewed and redesigned. 

Despite savings worth £5m being taken during the period 2024/26 and the £6.5m of savings over the next two years through until 2028, it is expected that there will be a further budget gap of around £4.5m by 2030/31.