On the money

Lesley Lodge recently stressed the importance of finance departments in the Supporting People care services funding regime (HT 7 May, page 15). However, Supporting People teams also have their own committed staff with strong financial skills.

The Supporting People teams were heavily involved in setting up the system and regularly submit information to the ODPM, so they are best-placed to carry out service reviews.

Finance managers can offer advice on the overall resource position and on the financial implications of seeking cost reductions or value for money.

Together, both parties can work on benchmarking exercises and ways in which the council can ensure the budget is being managed in line with strategic priorities, quality considerations and user needs.

At the moment, much of the information that councils hold on Supporting People appears to focus on inputs, such as unit costs.

Housing finance managers must link financial information to outputs, such as sustainable hospital discharges or a reduction in the number of emergency admissions to psychiatric hospitals. Some areas may be harder to assess financially, for example where support to someone with learning difficulties may give that person their first job opportunity.

Supporting People cost £1.8bn this year and, if councils do not properly manage this large sum, housing finance managers will rightly be blamed for this failure.

By working with our colleagues, we can decide what part of this task can be done by the Supporting People team and what by the departmental or corporate finance team.

The Supporting People pot is likely to be reduced in the comprehensive spending review. Finance managers must assess the implications

The importance of finance functions that might seem mundane must never be underestimated; failure to identify incorrect accounting could cost the Supporting People service money. Delays in making payments could place providers in financial difficulty.

Risks must be assessed and close scrutiny of the accounts of service providers undertaken where appropriate.

The Supporting People pot is likely to be reduced in this month's comprehensive spending review. This means finance managers must work with their Supporting People teams to assess the funding implications so they can make representations to government about the impact on their individual councils.

At the very least, they need to ensure there is transitional protection for local authorities.

The risks associated with grant reductions need to be considered as part of the budget and medium-term financial planning processes for the council as a whole, not just the housing or social service department.

This needs to extend to partners in health and probation.

To formulate the Supporting People strategy, councils need good-quality financial advice to help them make the difficult decisions about priorities.