Health & Social Care Moray’s (HSCM) budget for the year ahead has been agreed, with a focus on maintaining essential services, despite more than £19 million in financial pressures.
Moray Integration Joint Board (MIJB) today (26 March) approved a total budget of £233.8 million for 2026/27, alongside a £5.7 million savings package. A further £9 million of additional support from Moray Council and NHS Grampian will be needed to help manage the financial gap.
The budget aims to maintain essential services while responding to rising demand for community health and social care in Moray, alongside the increasing costs of delivering services. It also supports longer-term transformation, shifting support closer to home and focusing on prevention, reablement, and independence.
Councillor Bridget Mustard, Vice-Chair of MIJB, who chaired the meeting, said: “Like public services across Scotland, we are operating in an extremely challenging financial environment. Rising costs, increasing demand, complexity of care and workforce pressures, along with a recurring deficit from previous years, mean we have had to make difficult decisions to bring down spending in line with the funding we receive.
“The Board fully recognises that the decisions we had to make today will be difficult for many of our more vulnerable residents and their families. I appreciate the time members took to carefully consider each proposal and how any impact could be reduced before agreeing the savings package.
“Our priority is to protect essential services for the people who rely on care and support. We aim to help people stay independent and maintain good health and wellbeing for as long as possible, while ensuring services are sustainable for the future.”
Financial modelling presented to the Board shows expected cost pressures of over £19 million in 2026/27. These are driven by pay increases, national contract uplifts, rising prescribing costs, and the increasing complexity of people’s support needs, particularly as Moray’s population ages.
To help address this, the Board approved a package of savings totalling £5.7 million. These will come from reviews of service delivery, redesigned models of support and a stronger focus on more efficient ways of working.
Key savings measures include:
- Strengthening guidance on nutritional prescribing for babies, children, and adults to ensure support remains clinically appropriate, with safeguards for those most at risk. Babies with a confirmed clinical need for specialist formula will continue to receive it.
- Reviewing some care placements outwith Moray to ensure they remain appropriate and cost-effective
- Redesigning Children, Families and Justice services to improve early support and consistency
- Updating social care charging policies to make them clearer and more consistent
- Improving procurement and supply arrangements
- Reviewing aspects of out-of-hours services and minor surgery provision
- Changes to housing-related support arrangements in very sheltered housing
All proposals were assessed for their potential impact on people who access services, unpaid carers, staff and communities, ensuring that any risks are understood and mitigated where possible.
Additional savings of £2.285 million have already been secured through measures including vacancy management, reduced overtime, and limiting non-essential travel and training. The remaining budget gap will be managed through funding uplifts and continued financial grip and control measures.
Judith Proctor, Chief Officer, said: “We have approached these savings proposals with great care. Our teams have worked hard to identify options to protect frontline services and maintain safe, high‑quality support.
“We recognise that some changes may be difficult for individuals and families, and we are committed to supporting them through any transitions. Where proposals affect vulnerable people, we will only move forward with the right safeguards, oversight and support in place.”
The Board acknowledged that delivering the savings will be challenging and that progress must be closely monitored throughout the year.
Deborah O’Shea, Chief Financial Officer, added: “Setting a balanced budget this year has been extremely challenging given the scale of financial pressures and ongoing demand for services.
“While this plan achieves balance, it relies on delivering significant savings and continued support from our partners. We will monitor this closely and remain responsive to any emerging risks during the year.”
Alongside the budget, the Board also approved a five-year Medium Term Financial Framework. This sets out how services will be planned and funded through to 2030/31, helping ensure resources are focused on long-term priorities and future sustainability. The framework will be reviewed each year to respond to changing financial pressures.
The meeting papers, including the Revenue Budget and Recovery Plan 2026/27 are available on the Moray Council website here, along with the link to watch the webcast.
