The Adult Social Care & Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, 02 February 2026, to discuss the draft budget and financial plans for 2026/27, review progress on tackling health inequalities in North Bexley, and consider plans for an expanded reablement offer. The committee will also review its work programme for the upcoming year.

Draft Budget and Financial Plans 2026/27

The committee will receive an update on the draft budget and financial plans for Adult Social Care and Public Health for the 2026/27 financial year. This report highlights the financial plans as presented to Public Cabinet in January 2026, detailing how a balanced budget has been achieved through various approaches, including service reviews and transformation programmes. The report outlines investment in services, totalling £23.815m, covering contract inflation, growth, and pay inflation. It also details the current forecast for Adult Social Care and Public Health for 2025/26, which shows an overspend of £3.621m. The committee is invited to make observations on these proposals, which will be reported back to Public Cabinet before the final budget is considered by the Council.

Tackling Health Inequalities in North Bexley

This agenda item will provide an update on the Health Inequalities Fund Project in North Bexley, focusing on raising awareness of breast cancer screening and prostate cancer. The report highlights that North Bexley, the largest Local Care Network, has a diverse population with a higher proportion of residents from ethnic backgrounds other than White UK and is more deprived than the England median. It also notes significantly lower cancer screening coverage across all three national programmes (breast, bowel, and cervical) compared to the Bexley average. The project aims to improve screening uptake and awareness, particularly among Black men and women, through communication and engagement initiatives. The report will detail the interventions undertaken, the impact observed, and lessons learned, including the challenges of overcoming cultural and language barriers, limited resources for sustained outreach, and addressing misconceptions about cancer. Next steps include commissioning Community Health & Wellbeing Coaches to focus on preventing health inequalities in deprived communities.

Plans to Develop an Expanded Reablement Offer and Approach

The committee will consider proposals to expand Bexley's Reablement offer, aiming to increase access, particularly in community, mental health, and transition pathways. Reablement is described as a short-term, intensive, and person-centred intervention designed to help residents regain independence after illness, injury, or hospital discharge. The current service delivered 1,743 episodes in 2024/25, with nearly 70% of completers requiring no ongoing care. The proposed expansion aims to increase activity to approximately 2,000 episodes per annum, with a greater proportion of referrals from community and front-door pathways to prevent escalation into long-term care and reduce avoidable hospital admissions. A new pathway for young people transitioning to adult services (Preparing for Adulthood) and a more structured Mental Health Reablement pathway are also planned. The expansion requires an increase in workforce capacity, with an establishment of 27 full-time equivalent posts proposed, costing £321k. This investment is presented as an invest-to-save approach, with modelled cost savings of £0.406m in 2026/27, rising to £0.815m in subsequent years.

Work Programme

The committee will review and agree its annual work programme for the upcoming year, as detailed in Appendix A of the report. This includes identifying any additional items to be added and considering any further consultation required on forthcoming policy framework decisions. The committee will also review the Bexley Status Report for Quarter 2 (July-September 2025) to identify any key issues relevant to its remit and consider if further scrutiny is needed. Updates on the work of the SEND Priority Action Plan Scrutiny Sub-Group and the South East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will also be noted. Additionally, the committee will review a summary note of a briefing on the review of Prevention and Early Intervention grants to the voluntary sector, as detailed in Appendix D. The committee will also consider the outcomes of reality checking visits undertaken by members and discuss proposed future reality checking activities focused on adult social care service user experiences.