Process begins to agree Falkirk’s annual health and social care spending
Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership is preparing to set its annual budget for 2026/27.
For this financial year (2025/26), the Partnership and its Board set a 3-year financial plan and began work on a set of proposals to help balance its budget over this period.
Since March, work to implement these proposals has already put more than £9m worth of savings into motion, including:
- £2m by improving the way we arrange and contract services from external organisations.
- £750,000 by reviewing care packages more frequently, ensuring people receive the care they need as circumstances change.
- £250,000 by delivering our admin and business support functions more efficiently.
- £72,000 by delivering meals on wheels through different providers.
- £70,000 by reviewing how we arrange transport, including the vehicles we pay for.
- £1.6m by increasing the maximum amount people pay for non-personal care, bringing charges in Falkirk more in line with average care costs across Scotland.
- £100,000 by applying a flat £5 per week rate to use the Mobile Emergency Care service.
To continue planning a financially sustainable future, the Partnership has extended its financial outlook from 3 to 5 years for the first time, up to 2030/31. Over this period, we estimate a financial gap of almost £20m as the pace of rising costs, growing demand, and increasing complexity of care outstrips the resources we expect to have available.
Our immediate priority is to identify short-term savings to be achieved over the next 3 years. We will address our longer-term challenges through the process to set our next strategic plan in 2026, designing a future model of care which ensures services can be delivered within the budget available.
The Partnership’s Finance Oversight Group is working to identify potential solutions to meet immediate and future budget gaps. The group includes senior representation from each of our service areas and colleagues with expertise in finance, HR, and equality and human rights.
Proposals which affect the delivery of front-line services will be subject to community engagement and consultation activity, which will inform Equality and Poverty Impact Assessments and any decisions made by the Integration Joint Board.
Staff and partners will be invited to budget development sessions over the next few weeks, allowing proposals to be developed prior to any required wider public consultation process.
Further information about the Partnership’s current Medium-Term Financial Plan is available within the report presented to the recent meeting of the Integration Joint Board.
📩 Share your ideas now
We are always open to new ideas to help our services work as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Ideas can be submitted directly to the Partnership’s Chief Finance Officer using this online form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/gEDim7mPJF
This form is open for submissions all year round, with ideas considered regularly by the Partnership’s Finance Oversight Group.