Agenda item

The Director of Finance submits a report providing an early forecast for the 2025/26 financial year.

The Director of Finance submitted a report providing an early forecast for the

2025/26 financial year.

The Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within this report and make any observations it saw fit.

The Chair invited the commission to raise questions and comments. Key points to note were as follows:

• The report considered the budget that had been approved and what had happened since.  Savings had been approved as part of the last monitoring report, and this was reflected in the current budgets.
• The Corporate budget considered factors with limited control, such as housing benefits and discretionary Council Tax support and audit fees and bank charges.  Corporate Services referred to services such as Human Resources and IT.
• Homelessness was still a key pressure.  Adult Social Care was also a pressure with regard to package costs.  There were also pressures in children’s residential care and internal care.  Additionally, the pay award was slightly more than had been budgeted for in February.
• The summary report was at high-level as too much detail could lose context.  Therefore each narrative area had a summary report with key figures, for example in Adult Social Care, much of the key figures were to do with staff vacancies.
• There was a need to pay attention to any areas forecast for overspend. 
• With regard to achieving the savings target, directors were met with regularly and there was confidence that it would be achieved. Some decisions would required formal decisions.
• Savings were noted in the reports, where Directors had actioned.
• It was suggested that a report could go to the Economic Development, Transport and Climate Emergency scrutiny commission on falls in Planning and Building Control income in terms of whether it signals a decline in construction in the City or whether it is within the margin of error.
• A report could come to the Committee on the use and take-up of the Household Support Fund.
• With regard to revised fees for cremation services, it was confirmed that the Council expected to raise £300k form cremation services.  Points were raised surrounding numbers declining at City crematoria and people using crematoria outside the city.  It was suggested that crematoria needed to be profitable and as such facilities needed to be improved.
• It was clarified that the Action Plan following the CQC report had been intended to go to an Adult Social Care scrutiny commission that had been postponed.  A formal plan would come before scrutiny in November.
• With regard to staffing and vacancies in Adult Social Care in terms of Social Workers and Occupational Therapists it was explained that:
• Sine April, 13 qualified social workers and an occupational therapist had been added to the establishment, which had been funded through vacancy level turnover.  This insured that staff were in place and the budget was optimised.
• There were a total of 208 Social Workers in the current establishment with 31 vacancies.
• 17 Newly Qualified Social Workers had started.
• The current vacancy rate was 7%, which was low compared to national figures.
• 15 overseas experienced social workers had been recruited since last November, from South Africa and Zimbabwe, working to Level 3 Social Worker qualifications.
• There were 14.5 Occupational Therapists with two vacancies, although one was awaiting starting. Some triage and assessment had been outsourced.  In June 2024 the waiting list was 1160, this had reduced to 288.
• £790k was spent on agency workers, workers now had have three year post qualifying experience in a local authority to be an agency worker and there were regional pay caps, which had been implemented by government agencies.

• Information could be provided on how many staff were capitalised, however, it was noted that the capitalisation of staff was not a new concept.
• OSC requested Councillors were kept informed of modification to public toilet opening times in their wards.

AGREED:

1) That the report be noted.

2) That comments made by members of this commission be taken into account by the lead officers.

3) That a report go to EDTCE Scrutiny on Planning and Building Control income.

4) That a report come to OSC on the Household Support Fund