Cornwall Council’s new Conservative administration used its first Cabinet meeting to set out what its top priorities will be – housing and adult social care.

Opening the meeting new council leader Linda Taylor said: “Our plan is clear and focused towards our residents and the communities we represent.”

She said that the main priorities would be housing and adult social care but stressed that the council would also be making decisions which protect and conserve the environment.

She added: “We want to make Cornwall a place that has opportunities for all.”

The issue of adult social care was one which was discussed at length by the Cabinet during items on council performance and the financial outturn for 2020/21.

While the latter showed an overall underspend of £2.193m, adult social care reported an overspend of £11.3m.

Andy Virr, Cabinet member for adult social care, said that the council was looking at new ways of providing services to help bring down the financial cost of adult social care.

He highlighted that there had been a massive increase in people providing help in the community and volunteering during the coronavirus pandemic and said that this should be replicated in providing care for the vulnerable and help to avoid people having to go into residential care and instead remaining in their own homes and retaining their independence.

Cllr Virr said: “The challenge is huge in terms of the financial situation in adult social care. We have increased demand with Covid-19 and trying to make savings of previous years.

“We need to shift the focus. There is too much focus on bedded care. Bedded care is not good for individuals, it reduces their independence and increases their dependence.”

Cllr Virr said that there would be a need for “family, friends, voluntary sector and domiciliary care” to play a bigger role in providing care for vulnerable adults.

He highlighted that during the lockdown there were 8,000 more hours of care provided in Cornwall and he said that was what should be aimed for.

“We have to see this as a whole council response, our community officers, our networks, our GP networks, all working together.”

Cllr Virr said there were new opportunities from the “structural changes in health and care to integrate with an integrated care system” which would help with partnership delivery of services.

David Harris, deputy leader of the council and Cabinet member for resources, said that with adult social care: “I do look at the practicality of what our residents need and how our health service works and I grimace.”

But he said that adult social care “is an area that all the Cabinet is concerned about” and said that the overspend in the department had only been mitigated thanks to underspends in other areas of the council.

He added: “The adult social care budget scares me somewhat. I don’t think it is any one thing but it needs to be looked at and it needs to be got under control.

“I know that officers, not just in adult social care, but the finance team, this is the issue that bothers them.”

Cllr Virr responded saying: “If you look at our benchmarking (against other councils) we have more bedded care than other parts of the country and it is much more expensive and it is not a good outcome for residents.

“We need to get people living at home and independently.”

He said that there was a need to look at what people can do, rather than what they can’t do and provide the support needed so that they can remain in their own homes.

The council’s chief finance officer, Tracie Langley, said that adult social care “is one of our highest financial risks in the council”.

She said: “There is such a lot of focus being put into this area to solve what are really complex issues.

“Year on year we give uplifts to our social care budget, not just through council tax increases but in terms of council budget.”

She added that the council was seeing additional costs, processes and demand on the service which was making it more difficult.