Swindon’s ageing population may be adding pressure to the borough council’s adults social care budget - but the authority still spends most of its social care budget on adults under the age of 65.

The council has set up a new committee specifically to scrutinise and oversee the work of the children’s services and adults’ services departments.

Members of the committee were given briefings by the cabinet member and seniors officers from both departments at their first meeting.

Clare Deards, one of the directors of the adults’ services department talked councillors through the area which spends half of the council’s annual budget.

She said: “The adults’ services budget for 2024-25 is £84m – that’s 46 per cent of the council’s general fund.

“And while we know of increasing pressures from the demand for care for those over 65, we spend £23,4m on those people and £48m on adults under 65.”

Of the £84m, the great majority, £71.6m  is the direct cost of provision of care.

Ms Deards said the council supported more than 3,500 adults with care and support needs and 1771 unpaid carers in 2023-24 and commissioned  £94m of care services last year including residential and nursing home placements and domiciliary care, where carers visit someone in their own home.

There are 103 regulated care providers in Swindon, with the council directly commissioning services from 69 of them, and another 15 sub-contracted by the council’s lead provider.

Of those providers, 82 are rated outstanding or good by the Care Quality Commission, while eight require improvement and none are deemed inadequate.

Ms Deards said: “There aren’t many local authorities who can say that.”

She also told councillors of the savings needing to be made to come in at the department’s budget: “Last year we had to save £7m and we achieved  84 per cent of that. This year the saving is £6.5m and we’ve already banked  53 per cent of that so far. But we are just ‘netting off’ the increased pressure, rather than changing the top line of the budget.

Ms Deards meant the department’s budget was not decreasing but savings were necessary because inflation means the same level of service this year costs much more than it did last year.

Among savings are £190,000 saved by a review of vacant posts, £67,000  made by reviewing older people’s day care provision and £82,000 made by ceasing a career relief scheme.

£1m is due to be saved by an increase in community-led support for those needing physical and sensory support and  £500,000 from mental health, memory and cognition services.