SURREY has been handed an extra £4m to cope with winter health pressures.

The money for the county council’s adult social care department has been dished out from central government as part of its budget promises in October for adult social care.

But the money for Surrey came with the condition it must be spent with health colleagues.

Subsequently, the county council has agreed to use £1.4m for winter pressures across the whole system in Surrey and to keep £2.6m as a “contingency”.

Kevin Kilburn, Surrey’s deputy chief finance officer, laid out how the extra £4m would be spent at the corporate overview committee meeting in December.

He said: “The remaining £2.6m is being held as a contingency against winter pressures.

“If the pressures increase, we have the extra funding of up to £2.6m to act as a buffer. If it’s not used, it will be a saving this year.”

The update came as part of a report into budget savings for the council.

Mr Kilburn said £29m of £40m savings set out in September had been met because of “management actions”.

He added: “The impact is that rather than using £21m of reserves to support the budget, we will be using £13m – so in effect it is an £8m saving.

“However, despite the good news there are still quite significant budget pressures and challenges.”

Mr Kilburn said £6.6m of the SEND £15m savings plan was high risk, of which £3m they were assuming they woud not achieve. He said they were still aiming to achieve it, however.