A BID by health chiefs to save more than £11 million in the next financial year in Argyll and Bute is likely to fall more than £5m short, a new report has revealed.

A meeting of the integration joint board (IJB) which runs Argyll and Bute’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) was also due to hear that less than half of projected savings for 2018/19 are expected to be achieved.

The figures are revealed in a report by the HSCP’s interim head of finance, Kirsty Flanagan, to be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday, January 30.

Ms Flanagan’s report also highlights a lack of clarity over which official was responsible for delivering each saving – but says that particular issue has now been resolved.

Ms Flanagan says in her report: “It is very disappointing to note the lack of progress with the savings options. Against an overall savings target of £11.471m [in 2019/20], only £6.437m is anticipated to be delivered, a shortfall of £5.034m.

“Against the officer target of £10.954m in 2018/19, only £3.777m of savings are estimated to be achieved, resulting in a shortfall of £7.177m.

“The overspend (overall by the HSCP) is currently £4.398m and, therefore, there has been £2.779m of other in-year savings that have reduced the overspend.

“In addition to the savings target, there was also £1.6m of unidentified savings at the beginning of the financial year, which therefore increases the other in-year savings identified to £4.379m.

“It is evident that a number of the savings options were not developed enough when put forward for approval, and there is £3.898m of savings that are not achievable that reduces the savings plan to £7.573m.”

Ms Flanagan’s report states that ‘savings owners’ have now been agreed for each option.

Ms Flanagan said: “Progress with the savings options have been monitored by the health and social work finance teams.

“However, this information has never been pulled together into one document, nor was the consolidated document reconciled to the actual savings that were agreed by the IJB on March 28, 2018.

“In consolidating the savings options that officers are monitoring against, there are differences between the approved plan.

“It is difficult to ascertain why these differences have arisen, particularly as two key members of staff have moved on.

“However, the savings options that officers are working to are higher than the original approved plan.

“The revised profile of savings has been factored into the budget outlook, including the savings shortfall within the ‘being developed’ category and alternative savings will require to be identified.

“If additional savings are identified from those options ‘being developed’ the budget gap will be amended accordingly.

“Now that this monitoring process has been established, progress with the savings plan will be reported to the Integrated Joint Board as part of the routine finance reports.”