East Lothian Council today (Tuesday 28 October) approved the allocation of £1.5m from the Council reserves to the Adult Social Care budget in 2008/09. The action was taken to address service pressures in the current financial year and for anticipated future service demands.

Cllr. Ruth Currie, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care explained: “The Council has faced unprecedented demand for services which has exceeded the available budget. Although additional government funding for free personal will be made available to local authorities for 2009/10 onwards we faced an immediate funding shortfall which required prompt action.

“East Lothian has experienced the second highest population growth of a local authority area in Scotland in recent years. The proportion of older people in East Lothian is substantially higher and places considerable strain on particular council services. In addition to the numbers of older people, a shift in the NHS policy towards health care being provided from home, which is largely unfunded by the NHS, has combined to pose difficult challenges for the council to face. The additional funding agreed today, and action taken by Community Services senior management, will ensure that the high quality of service provision remains for local residents and that we are better placed to cope with the continuation of high demands.”