By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The cost of delivering a mental health service in Nottingham over the next four years has risen by more than £420,000 due to inflation.
Nottingham City Council provides support for people living with mental health conditions in the form of a ‘Mental Health Reablement’ service.
The service provides physical and mental health help alongside financial and housing support to make sure people can live independently in their own homes and communities.
It also supports people with more complex needs including those associated with drug use, alcohol use, offending or if they have just left a psychiatric ward at hospital.
In March this year, it was anticipated 375 people would need support and delivering the service would cost £400,000 each year over the next four years.
But the figure has since risen by more than £100,000 to £505,440 per year, a total of £421,760 more than was originally planned over the four years.
“There have been significant increases in inflation since the service costs were modelled,” council delegated decision documents say.
“The procurement for the Mental Health Reablement service was opened on
May 18.
“There was an expectation that the service would support approximately 375 citizens.
“During the tender process, there was significant feedback from providers that the funding was insufficient to support the number of citizens anticipated, and that Nottingham City Council would be unlikely to receive quality bids for a successful service with the level of funding advertised.
“A working group of Adult Social Care, Public Health, Transformation and Commissioning colleagues have agreed that the service is unlikely to be deliverable and sustainable on the budget previously proposed.”
The authority first approved the delivery of the service in March this year during a Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee.
The council was an “outlier” because it did not have one up until this point, unlike other local authorities.
This was due to budget pressures at the time.
“Such services are widely recognised for their preventative value and are common in other core and neighbouring cities,” documents from the March meeting say.
“Nottingham City Council was to commission a Mental Health Reablement service in 2020, but due to budget pressures the contract was not awarded.”
It will be funded using public health reserves in the first two years, followed by a public health grant and money from Adult Social Care budgets over the remaining two years.
While the costs have increased, the council says the service will help save money in the long-term by keeping people in their own homes.
“Their accommodation costs are paid for through the benefits they are entitled to,” documents add.
“As well as affording the citizen a greater degree of independence, and developing their skills, this model is considerably lower in cost to Nottingham City Council than a service where the local authority pays for the accommodation as well as the care, such as residential care or accommodation-based care support.
“It is recognised that the costs of delivering all services has increased since the review was carried out, however it can reasonably be expected that the Mental Health Reablement service will still represent proportionate value for money compared to the other services.”
The service is due to become operational in April next year.
