Careless North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board chiefs will have to tighten their belts after an “inaccuracy” saw them blunder on their 'care at home' spending by more than £3 million.

The sum made up the majority of a £4,483,000 overspend.

Adding around £3m for reserve funds earmarked for specific programmes saw that figure rise to £7.46m.

The position was reduced to £5,464,000 after drawing down a further £2m from reserves which was agreed to support the financial position during 2023-24.

Some £486,000 of this relates to the local government pay award funding shortfall, which could not have been projected.

The shortfall is funded from unearmarked reserves and as such there is no requirement at this stage to request additional funding from North Ayrshire Council or NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

Health board representative Mark Mazzucco told the North Ayrshire Integration Joint Board (IJB): “It greatly worries me. We are out of control in what is going on. It’s quite a movement from what were previously told.

"We are always looking at an overspend because of children’s residential. I didn’t remember being told there was a £3.4m problem in care at home. This is a problem going into 2024-25.

“If we can’t have faith in the numbers given to this committee, I don’t know how we can be 10 per cent out on a £30m projection for care at home.”

Paul Doak, North Ayrshire Council head of service for finance and transformation, said:  “You are absolutely correct. There wasn’t an overspend in care at home reported here, it was simply down to an inaccuracy in that projection.

“Due to the information that was input during the year it has not been accurate enough. We are working to ensure there won’t be a recurrence of it in 24-25.”

Garnock Valley councillor and North Ayrshire Provost Anthea Dickson said: “This was a real shock. IJBs are different from the NHS, as even after the value of the work put in, we don’t have the luxury of being able to carry forward such a deficit.

“So it is difficult. It will affect other services and it is going to have to be brought under control.

"We want to be reassured that similar estimates for other areas are robust too, as we are not going to repeat an error.

“Behind an error which can be of embarrassing proportions, we have the tsunami of demand outstripping our ability to supply people to deliver services, because we do not have people.

“Even if we had money, we don’t have people who are suitably trained and recruited for the demand which has grown dramatically.

"We already have very difficult decisions to make and we do have to highlight as our parents, the health board, know because what we do affects their ability to support us.”

IJB chair Margaret Johnson added: “What we have to remember is we are dealing with human beings. They are not numbers or tick boxes.

"They are due the best respect and care that we can possibly give them. I know that with the dedication of our staff the services that we provide will remain customer-serviced.”

Earlier this year, North Ayrshire announced they would be taking care at home services 'in-house' ending contract with three private sector providers, who claimed the move would leave those most at risk worse off.

The council has been approached for comment.