The Adult Social Services, Health and Housing Committee met on Tuesday, 10 February 2026, to discuss the council's budget monitoring for the third quarter of the 2025-26 financial year, the proposed revenue budget for 2026-27, and the annual audit report of Richmond's housing associations. Key decisions included noting an projected overspend of £2.765 million for the current financial year and approving revised charges for various services.

Quarter 3 Budget Monitoring 2025-26

The committee noted a projected overspend of £2.765 million against the revenue budget for the 2025-26 financial year. The majority of this overspend, £2.408 million, is within the Resident Services Directorate, primarily due to increased costs in Housing Services and Strategy. This is largely attributed to a rise in demand for homelessness services and temporary accommodation, exacerbated by factors such as the end of pandemic protections, volatility in the private rented sector, cost of living pressures, and domestic abuse cases. The report detailed that the overall cost of temporary accommodation has increased by £2.3 million, with a further £0.2 million increase since the second quarter.

Within the Adult Social Care and Public Health Directorate, an overspend of £357,000 was forecast. This is influenced by increased demand for services for people with physical disabilities and underachievement of income from the telecare service. Specific pressures were noted in Adult Social Care budgets (£279,000 overspend) and Assurance and Innovation (£228,000 overspend), while Health and Care Integration showed an underspend of £388,000 due to staffing vacancies and lower than estimated equipment costs.

The capital programme for 2025-26 has a committed budget of £12.166 million, with a forecast outturn of £11.971 million, resulting in a £195,000 underspend. Significant capital expenditure is planned for Disabled Facilities Grants, Residential Acquisitions, and the Public Health Bus.

Directorate Budget Report 2026-27 (Including Fees & Charges)

The committee reviewed the proposed revenue budget for 2026-27, which totals £89.794 million. This represents an increase of £13.861 million from the 2025-26 revised budget. Key changes include inflation costs of £5.104 million, an increase in government grants of £10.131 million, and demand-led growth of £2.550 million. Efficiency savings totalling £4.528 million are planned across various services.

Significant demand-led growth is allocated to housing services (£1.2 million) to address the projected costs of temporary accommodation, and to adult social care (£1.350 million) to meet rising demand across all services. Efficiency savings are targeted in areas such as Empower, Reduce and Delay People's Needs (£1.045 million) and Deliver person-centred operations (£2.080 million).

The report also detailed proposed revisions to fees and charges for services from 1 April 2026. For the Resident Services Directorate, proposed increases include a rise in the fee for Improvement Notices issued under the Housing Act 2004 from £675 to £701, and revised fees for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licences, reflecting an uplift of 3.8%. For Adult Social Care and Public Health, proposed charges include an inflationary uplift of 3.8% for day centre meals and an increase in the self-funder arrangement fee from £58.90 to £61.10 per week.

Richmond Housing Associations Annual Audit Report 2024-25

The committee received the annual audit report reviewing the performance of the four main housing associations operating in Richmond: RHP, PA Housing, MTVH, and L&Q. The report, which uses data from the 2024-25 financial year, highlighted general improvements across most providers, particularly in health and safety compliance and overall tenant satisfaction.

Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP), which manages the majority of the borough's social stock, demonstrated good performance in repairs completion times and low anti-social behaviour (ASB) case numbers. However, its Ombudsman maladministration cases remain slightly higher than national averages, and 45% of its homes are identified as 'inefficient' in terms of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings.

PA Housing showed strong performance in operational and safety areas, with 80% of its properties achieving an EPC rating of C or above. Repairs response times were also strong, outperforming the G15 average. However, PA's weaker areas include complaints handling and neighbourhood management, with satisfaction rates below G15 averages.

London & Quadrant (L&Q) presented an uneven performance, with overall satisfaction remaining low at 54%. While health and safety compliance has improved significantly, routine repairs completion rates were the lowest among the four landlords. Complaints handling satisfaction was also low.

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) demonstrated generally strong performance across operational and safety areas, with overall satisfaction at 67.7%. They also scored above the G15 average for communal area cleanliness and ASB handling. MTVH's weakest area is complaints handling, with satisfaction at 37%, though they showed the strongest performance in complaint response times.

The report noted that for Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), data is relative to the landlord as a whole and not broken down by geographical location, with the exception of RHP. The committee was encouraged to note that the Regulator of Social Housing has assessed L&Q, MTVH, and PA, with each receiving a C2 consumer grading, indicating some weaknesses in delivering consumer standards and a need for improvement. RHP had not yet been graded.

Other Matters

The committee also received a verbal update on the work of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees, noting the temporary move of paediatric cardiology services from the Royal Brompton to Evelina, and capacity issues affecting maternity services at Kingston Hospital. The committee work programme was also noted.