The Budget Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to receive a report on the latest forecast outturn position for revenue expenditure for 2024-25, as well as the Housing Revenue Account, Dedicated Schools Grant and the Capital Programme. The Committee was also scheduled to receive a report on the Council’s proposed budget for 2025-26.

Council’s 2025-26 Budget

The Committee was scheduled to discuss a report pack about the budget-setting process for the 2025-26 financial year. The report pack contains a proposed increase of 4.99% in Council Tax, to £1,787.27. The proposed increase includes 2% for the adult social care precept¹ and 2.99% for core Council services. This is justified because “the increases in Council Tax are considered necessary to mitigate against increased demand for services”. The 2025-26 budget included for discussion is a balanced budget, but the report pack notes that “the remaining two years of the MTFS [Medium-Term Financial Strategy], 2026/27 and 2027/28, are currently predicting a funding gap of approximately £10.646 million”. The report pack also contains the following breakdowns:

• Earmarked service pressures of £3.029 million.
• Budget Reductions totalling £9.134 million.
• A general fund reserve of £14.905 million for 2025-26.
• A capital Programme to provide investment in Waltham Forest over the period 2024-25 to 2034-35 totalling £712.035 million.

Council’s Current Financial Position

The Committee was scheduled to receive a report on the Council’s current financial position, which as at Month 9 (31 December 2024) is forecasting a net overspend of £20.522 million against budget. The highest proportion of the forecast overspend is in Adult Social Care. The report pack contains a summary of the in-year forecast position by Directorate. The report pack describes the main pressures on the budget as being increased demand and higher costs for Adults and Children’s Social Care, SEND, and Temporary Accommodation. The report pack notes an increase of 56%, from 990 to 1,549, in the number of households in Temporary Accommodation between November 2023 and November 2024. This has been caused by an increase in admissions to Temporary Accommodation alongside “a decrease in households leaving TA”. The number of service users in Adult Social Care in November 2024 was 3,558. This was a 4.6% increase on the 3,400 users in 2023-24. The average weekly fee paid by client across all external placements increased by 23% between 2019-20 and the current year.

Financial Monitoring 2024-25 (Month 9)

The Committee was scheduled to discuss a report on the 2024-25 Month 9 financial position for revenue and capital expenditure, the Housing Revenue Account and the Dedicated Schools Grant. The report pack contains a forecast for Revenue Expenditure showing a net overspend of £20.522 million, an increase of £4.265 million since Month 6. The Dedicated Schools Grant was forecasting an in-year deficit of £7.059 million, taking the total cumulative deficit to £7.958 million. The majority of which is in the High Needs Block². This is an increase in the deficit of £2.458 million since Month 6. The report pack contains a breakdown of the forecasted in-year position for each directorate. The Month 9 position for Children’s Services is a projected overspend of £6.322 million. The majority of this is in the SEND service which is forecasting an overspend of £4.655 million. £1.939 million of this is in Travel Assistance, and £2.336 million of it is in Transitions / Preparing for Adulthood. The month 9 position for Adult Social Care is a projected overspend of £7.585 million. The majority of this overspend “is driven by increased demand, more complex needs, an ageing population, and limited options within current commissioning arrangements”.

Minutes of the previous meeting

The Committee was scheduled to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2024. The minutes record that the Director of Financial Services introduced a report on fees and charges for 2025-26. The Committee noted that “increases to some fees and charges were proposed to take place in February rather than April”, which the Director of Financial Services confirmed was “to reduce in-year overspend”. The report pack contains the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2024.

The Scrutiny Report

The Committee was scheduled to discuss the Scrutiny Report. The report pack notes that the Leader of the Council spoke to “the importance of scrutiny in the Council’s budget-setting and spending review processes”.