The Council meeting on 3 March 2025 was scheduled to consider several financial matters including proposed amendments to the Council’s constitution, adoption of a pay policy for 2025/26, agreement of members’ allowances for 2025/26, and the setting of the budget and council tax for 2025/26. The meeting was also due to receive the annual reports of the scrutiny committee chairs, a follow up report to the January themed debate on ‘working with partners’, and to debate three motions from councillors.

The Council's Finances

The report pack for the meeting contained proposals for the Council’s 2025/26 Revenue Estimates and Council Tax Setting. The report set out the Council’s “Core Spending Power” for 2025/26 as determined by central government, and identified the significant financial pressures facing the Council’s social care and homelessness services.

The Core Spending Power for 2025/26 for Camden is £355.7m, a cash terms increase of 5.11% compared to 2024/25. Of this increase, more than half (£9.75m) is ringfenced for adult social care.

The report identified several risks to the Council’s ability to balance its budget over the medium term:

• The significant budget pressure on homelessness services, which is estimated to be in the region of £8m.
• The risk that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which has recently had its second reading in parliament, may place unfunded burdens on the Council, particularly in respect of Children’s Social Care services.
• The risk that inflation and interest rates may rise faster than expected, increasing costs to the Council.

The report recommends a council tax increase of 4.99% to help meet these pressures. This is comprised of a 2.99% increase in Core Council Tax and a 2% increase to fund Adult Social Care services.

The report proposes several capital investments designed to mitigate against the risks of rising costs in children’s and adult social care:

• A proposal to invest £11.1m in the purchase of residential properties for the provision of Children’s Social Care services.
• A proposal to invest £10m in the purchase of residential properties to increase the level of social rented housing in the borough.

The report pack also contained a Climate Budget, providing transparency on the Council’s progress towards meeting its net zero carbon ambition. The budget estimates that the cost of achieving a net zero carbon borough will be more than £10 billion. As the Council only has control or influence over roughly one-third of carbon emissions in the borough, the budget focuses on the decarbonisation of the Council’s own estate and operations, excluding housing stock.

The budget estimates that a further £225 million is required to complete the decarbonisation of the Council’s estate. The largest proportion of this (£139 million) is the estimated cost of fully decarbonising schools in the borough.

The budget sets out the challenges faced in seeking to decarbonise housing stock.

The Council has limited visibility on carbon emissions that result from energy consumption in homes as the majority of Council homes are subject to private electricity and gas supplies with metering and billing arrangements which are not visible to the Council.

Despite this challenge the budget sets out the Council’s commitment to decarbonising its housing stock through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the Green Heat Network Grant Fund. The budget also describes the Council’s intention to access institutional finance to help fund a borough-wide retrofit programme.

The budget sets out the Council’s ambitions for the decarbonisation of its vehicle fleet.

Through the Greening the Fleet programme, the Council aims to significantly reduce its carbon footprint by transitioning to low-emission vehicles, improving air quality and operational efficiency. Key targets include reducing the fleet size by 10%, electrification of all local vehicles, removing and downsizing vehicles, and promoting alternative transport options such as public transport and vehicle sharing.

The budget estimates that a decarbonised fleet will cost in the region of £17 million.

The report pack also contained a summary of the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for 2025/26. It describes the significant impact that the global economic environment has on the Council’s finances, setting out the risks from both falling and rising interest rates, and outlines the Council’s prudent approach to managing its investments.

Proposed Changes to the Council's Constitution

The report pack contained a report on proposed Changes to the Constitution.

The report sets out a number of proposed changes to the way the Council’s meetings are run, suggesting that several rules be amended to avoid unnecessary discussion of matters that are not relevant to the Council’s business or that the Council has limited power over. In addition, several more technical changes to the rules are proposed to improve efficiency.

Pay and Allowances

The report pack for the meeting contained proposals for the Members’ Allowance Scheme 2025/26, which sets out the financial support available to elected councillors in Camden. The 2023 report of the Independent Panel for the Remuneration of Councillors in London was attached to the report.

The report highlights the significant difference between the Basic Allowance paid to councillors in London (£13,340) and the Basic Allowance paid in other parts of the UK. The basic allowance in Scotland is currently £20,099, in Wales it is £17,600 and in Northern Ireland it is £16,394.

The Panel recommended that the Basic Allowance in London should be increased to £15,960. However, the report recommends only a 2.5% increase to the Basic Allowance, bringing it to £16,084.30 from 1 April 2025. This is in line with the National Joint Council for Local Government Staff pay award for 2024/25. The report recommends a similar 2.5% increase to Special Responsibility Allowances.

The report also included details of payments available to councillors for travel, subsistence and dependant carers’ allowances.

The report pack for the meeting also included a Pay Policy Statement 2025/26.

The statement set out the pay arrangements for the Council’s most senior officers, known collectively as the Chief Officers. The statement included details of salaries and additional payments for chief officers. It also describes the pay schemes for other Council employees.

Committee and Partnership Reports

The report pack contained the Annual Joint Report of the Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees 2024-25.

The report provided a detailed summary of the work of the five scrutiny committees – Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee, Housing Scrutiny Committee, Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee, and the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee – during the 2024/25 municipal year.

The report highlighted the role of the scrutiny committees in contributing to the aims of the Council’s corporate strategy, We Make Camden.

It also described the ways in which the committees had sought to engage with communities. For example:

• The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee invited deputations from Caversham Practice Patient Participation Group, who raised concerns about plans to permanently close the Peckwater Centre. The committee also sought input from voluntary and community sector partners, including Age UK Camden, Camden Carers and Camden Disability Action.
• The Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee received a deputation from representatives of the deaf community, who raised concerns about how deaf residents could access housing services.

The report pack also contained a follow up report to the themed debate on ‘working with partners and institutions to benefit Camden’, which was held at the Council meeting in January 2025.

The report described the role of organisations like Arsenal in the Community, Camden Giving and Google in supporting the work of Camden Council, and provided details of activities and schemes designed to support residents.

The report set out the challenges faced by Camden Council in working with its many partners.

Both the State of the Borough report and our Good Life Camden (GLC) framework (referenced in the main report) continue to be a key focal point at our annual We Make Camden Summit, and together they enable organisations to take an evidenced based approach to collectively prioritising action and measuring impact against our local priorities, which we revisit annually.

The report concluded that the Council’s “missions approach”, as described in We Make Camden, is a key tool for coordinating and targeting the work of Camden’s partners.

Motions

The meeting was scheduled to consider three motions submitted by councillors.

The first motion, submitted by Councillor Steve Adams, proposed that the Council reduces its reliance on agency staff.

The Council resolves to make greater efforts to drive down the non-productive costs of staffing by reducing the reliance on agency hiring towards a level of 5%. This reduction would deliver a £1.1M saving while not reducing staff levels. By more use of existing technology, the Council also commits to a future reduction in total staff numbers through efficiencies.

The second motion, submitted by Councillor Patricia Leman, proposed that the Council acknowledges the financial challenges facing local authorities as a result of austerity measures implemented by central government, and notes the new government’s commitment to multi-year funding settlements for local authorities. The motion then describes the many investments being made by Camden Council in services, infrastructure and its residents. The motion concluded that Camden should:

•  Continue Camden’s strong financial stewardship, ensuring we remain financially sustainable and continue
   delivering excellent services despite national funding pressures.
•   Ensure Camden remains a place where people of all backgrounds can afford to live, work, and raise a family.
   This includes building new affordable homes, protecting private renters, and improving council housing.
•   Stand up for residents facing hardship by maintaining generous Council Tax support, and investing in
   food security programs.
•   Deliver high-quality public services that benefit the whole community, from libraries and leisure centres
   to safer streets and cleaner air.
•   Maximise economic and housing opportunities for residents by ensuring major developments create
   jobs, apprenticeships, and genuinely affordable homes.

The third motion, submitted by Councillor Judy Dixey, proposed that the Council:

•   Signing up to the Young Carers Covenant, published by Carers Trust in March 2024.
•   Committing to implement the Carers Trust’s ‘No Wrong Door’ for Young Carers, to improve services between
   adult and children’s social care services, Integrated Care Boards and other key organisations in respect of
   identification and support for young carers and their families.
•   Working alongside all schools and colleges to deliver Young Carer Awareness Training for staff so that they
   can recognise and address the challenges faced by young carers.
•   Encouraging schools and colleges to mark Young Carers Action Day by providing guidance, assembly plans,
   and awareness-raising materials.

to mark Young Carers Action Day on 13 March 2025.

It should be noted that this is a summary of the information contained in the meeting pack provided for the meeting and it is not known whether the meeting discussed all of the points mentioned, whether any decisions were taken, and whether or not all of the information in the report pack was accurate.