TOO many staff are working excess hours to keep Devon’s adult social care department running amid a funding squeeze, a council boss has claimed.

Donna Manson, the chief executive of Devon County Council, said the pressures upon the council’s largest department were being amplified by poor levels of government funding, meaning staff were frequently overworking.

The comments came as councillors were scrutinising feedback from the 20,000 people who use Devon’s adult social care service annually.

In the 2024/25 financial year, less than 1 per cent of those using adult social care services – equivalent to 200 people – complained.

“I see far too many staff sitting beyond hours and there aren’t enough resources to address the issue,” she said.

“We need to be honest about the staffing we have in place, and I think the staff are doing a good job in exceptionally challenging circumstances.”

While some councillors questioned why the speed of response times to complaints had declined within the 2024/25 financial year, Ms Manson stressed the council received more compliments than complaints, and that the number of people who raised issues was small given the scale of the service.

Ms Manson said she was involved in dealing with the most serious complaints, and that they tended to be “very complex” and involve multiple parts of the council, and even sometimes other organisations too.

She added that the performance of the council’s adult social care department came as it had already saved more than £67 million since 2022, and pessimistic predictions about the council’s funding settlement from government meant more costs would need to be cut.

Devon recently agreed to work with external consultants Newton in a bid to identify where the service can save even more cash.

Projections from Newton suggest a cumulative £106 million could be saved by the service between now and the 2028/29 financial year, with that figure being a so-called mid-point estimate, meaning even more ambitious savings could be possible.

Ms Manson noted Devon had long been underfunded when it came to health-related cash, with NHS income per 100,000 of population being just over £4.8 million for the 2023/24 financial year – well below the nearly £7.5 million for Plymouth and nearly £30 million for Torbay.

With Devon’s NHS also facing a funding crunch, the council recently stated it expected “additional strain on adult social care and joint working arrangements”.

Ms Manson added: “I’m happy for us to be challenged to be better, but we have got to be honest about the context we are working in and I’m very concerned about Devon’s potential budget settlement given the spending review.”