AROUND 100 jobs cuts are being made to adult social care workers in Worcestershire as part of a plan to slash £13 million.

Cash-strapped Worcestershire County Council has revealed how it intends to reduce its 1,000-strong adult care workforce by around 10 per cent from next April.

Bosses are deliberately not replacing staff who leave and say the entire management structure will be placed under review to see what layers can be removed.

In return front line adult social care workers will be given extra powers to make decisions on spending packages for vulnerable people without heading back to the office.

The move is part of the in-house Future Lives programme, an effort to save £30 million by 2016.

It has now emerged that a fresh savings target of £13.2 million has been earmarked without County Hall's adult care and health function from 2016-2018, leading to the targets being drawn up.

Vacancies which crop up are being left empty, with the council saying it believes compulsory redundancies will be avoided under the tactic.

Your Worcester News can reveal how bosses have also asked outside consultants to review the future of adult care in Worcestershire - a key piece of work being done by the commercial arm of Oxford Brookes University.

The work is examining issues like the sustainability of private county care homes, the rising elderly population and the impact of the £9-an-hour legally binding National Living Wage by 2020, a review which will wrap up around December.

Anne Clark, the head of adult social care, said the changes will "free up" care workers "who can make decisions without going back to the office".

"When I was a front line social worker I was able to go out and 'buy' care packages for (elderly and vulnerable) people to the equivalent of seven hours a week, but at the moment ours can't commit to that," he said.

"We are now starting to say 'if a level three social worker identifies a need, would it not be right for them to commit to some sort of spend'.

"That's what we're looking at, can we take out layers of management. If we're going to free up the staff we've got to look at that."

Speaking during a meeting of the adult care and well being overview and scrutiny panel this afternoon, she was challenged by Labour Councillor Chris Bloore who said "are we being forced into this position because we'll have fewer people?"

Councillor Jim Parish asked her how service standards can be met with 10 per cent fewer staff, adding: "And if it's the case we're 10 per cent over-staffed why hasn't it been done before?"

She told them it was a "combination" of staff feedback about bureaucracy and wanting more control, and the need to be more efficient.

"It's a process we are working through at the moment, it's quite a cultural change," she said.

A new report on the strategy says the council has to "support staff to do their job in new ways" so bosses can "manage the workload with fewer people".

It also reveals how the council will have to consider options for how to run some services, and "whether that should continue to be in-house".

Other options include further integration with the NHS or even getting community interest companies to take some functions over, for example.

Conservative Councillor Sheila Blagg, the cabinet member responsible for adult care, said it was an "exciting time" for staff who will get the new responsibilities.

"We're in a transition period at the moment," she said.

"We're looking to make those changes and respond to what the staff are telling us by dealing with those issues now rather than park them."

Of the £327 million County Hall budget some £127 million will go on adult care and health this year.

The savings will contribute to the annual target of clawing back around £25 million across the entire county council.