This meeting was scheduled to include a deputation about the council's response to the Hackney Commission into Affordable Childcare, and reports on the council's financial position, its transformation strategy, and a planned scheme for delegating planning powers from the London Legacy Development Corporation to Hackney Council.

The council's finances

The most significant item scheduled for discussion was a report on the council’s overall financial position. The report pack includes a forecast that, after the use of reserves and mitigations, the council will overspend by £21,433,000 during the 2024-25 financial year. The report describes the overspend as a serious issue for the Council and a major challenge going forward. The main areas of overspend are predicted to be Adult and Children's Social Care, and Homelessness Prevention. The report sets out a number of initiatives that the council could use to try and mitigate the overspend, including recruitment controls, limits on non-essential spending, and a review of spending on agency staff. The report also contains an update on the council's response to the cost of living crisis, including details of how the council plans to use the Household Support Fund to provide residents with support.

The council's transformation strategy

The Cabinet was also scheduled to consider a corporate transformation strategy covering the four years from 2024/25 to 2027/28. The report describes the strategy as setting an ambitious and progressive approach to change, securing Hackney’s future by solving problems and meeting challenges differently and creating an enabled, effective and efficient Council. The report argues that the strategy is necessary because of extraordinary demands being placed on the council's services as a result of a number of factors including deep rooted inequality, the climate emergency, the cost of living crisis, and a broken housing market, as well as fourteen years of continuous council funding shortfalls from Central Government. The report says that transformation will be a key enabler to delivering efficiencies that will support the [Medium Term Financial Plan]. The report proposes that the strategy will focus on three key objectives:

● Putting residents first by providing for the people who live and work in Hackney. ● Securing Hackney’s future by maintaining financial stability and investing in what matters most. ● Changing together by acting as one Council. Modernised, flexible, collaborative and skilled to meet our future challenges.

The strategy proposes a number of workstreams, including:

• Transforming outcomes in Adult Social Care
• Housing Improvement
• Children’s and Education Improvement
• Prevention and demand management
• Resident experience
• An efficient, enabled and high performing council
• Strategic Asset Management & Corporate Landlord
• Commercial

The Hackney Commission into Affordable Childcare

Beatrice Hackett was scheduled to give a deputation to the meeting about the Hackney Commission into Affordable Childcare. The Commission was established in January 2023 to investigate opportunities for affordable childcare. It published its report in January 2024, making 29 recommendations covering four themes:

• Manage the Hackney Childcare Market
• Think Sustainably: Support Early Years Education and Care Services
• Build a Pipeline of Early Years Staff in Hackney
• Connect, Collaborate and Champion The deputation was scheduled to focus on the council's plans to cut 129 subsidised childcare places at four of the borough's children's centres, and to call on the Cabinet to pause these plans.

Delegating planning powers to Hackney Council

The Cabinet was scheduled to consider a report about a plan for the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to delegate planning powers back to Hackney Council. The LLDC is responsible for planning decisions in the area surrounding the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, including the Hackney Wick area. The LLDC is scheduled to cease to exist on 1 December 2024, and planning powers are scheduled to be returned to the four Growth Boroughs: Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest. The report pack proposes a two stage delegation of powers, starting with a limited delegation of some planning functions from 1 September 2024 until 30 November 2024, followed by a full delegation of all planning powers from 1 December 2024. The report argues that this will help to facilitate a smooth transfer of powers.

Annual report of the council owned companies

The meeting was also scheduled to receive the annual reports of the council's owned companies. These are:

• The Hackney Housing Company Limited, which has developed over 2,000 homes, including over 1,000 at social rent levels.
• The Hackney PRS Housing Company Limited, which was established in 2018 to acquire and manage private rented sector homes at sub-market rents.
• The Hackney HLR Housing Company Limited, which develops high quality temporary accommodation for families in Hackney.
• The Otto Management Company Ltd, which manages properties on behalf of the Hackney Housing Company Limited.
• The Makers Management Company Ltd, which manages properties on behalf of the Hackney PRS Housing Company Limited.
• The Hackney Commercial Services London Limited, which provides a range of services to the council, including repairs and maintenance, catering, and cleaning.

Capital update and property disposals and acquisitions

The report pack also included a report on the council's capital programme. The report includes a number of updates on individual capital projects, and includes details of a number of proposed property disposals and acquisitions.

Appointment of local authority governors

Finally, the meeting was scheduled to consider the nomination of Emilie Lentz for appointment as a Local Authority Governor at Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form, and Leonie Allister as a Local Authority Governor at Sir Thomas Abney Primary School. Local Authority Governors are appointed by the Governing Board of a maintained school following nomination by the Local Authority. The nomination of Emilie Lentz was proposed because her legal background, as well as expertise in safeguarding were seen as skills that would greatly benefit the board. The renomination of Leonie Allister was proposed because of her wealth of experience as a governor at the school and as a teacher, and in recognition of the difficulty of finding people who are willing to commit the time and energy to the role.