The Children's Services Scrutiny Sub-Committee of Lambeth Council was scheduled to discuss the financial position of the Children, Families and Education Directorate for the 2025/26 financial year. The committee was also due to review and potentially approve its work programme for the upcoming year, which includes a record of past actions and recommendations.

Budget Position Report - Children, Families and Education 2025/26

The sub-committee was scheduled to receive an update on the 2025/26 budget position for the Children, Families and Education (CFE) Directorate. The report highlighted a projected net budget pressure of £6.361 million, primarily driven by demand-led statutory services. Key areas contributing to this pressure include Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) transport, children's social care placements, and support for families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).

The report detailed specific pressures within different divisions:

• Education & Learning: £2.8 million, mainly due to SEND transport demand and cost inflation.
• Commissioning and Youth Services: £1.2 million, reflecting the removal of one-off reserve support and ongoing demand.
• Children's Social Care: £1.9 million, attributed to workforce market pressures and the high cost of complex placements.
• Non-Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF): £0.5 million, due to statutory safeguarding responsibilities.

Additionally, £4 million in growth funding was provisionally allocated corporately for CFE, but had not yet been assigned to specific budgets. The report also outlined the progress of the 2025/26 savings programme, with £2.7 million (76%) of the £3.562 million savings on track for delivery. However, £0.8 million of savings were at risk due to reliance on external factors such as placement availability and workforce recruitment. The report also provided an overview of savings proposals for 2026/27 onwards, totalling £2.695 million.

The report recommended that the sub-committee comment on and consider the 2025/26 budget position and savings proposals.

Children's Services Scrutiny Sub-Committee Work Programme 2025-26

The sub-committee was scheduled to consider its work programme for the 2025-26 municipal year. This programme outlines the topics the committee intends to scrutinise, with the aim of identifying and prioritising matters for future review. The report provided a draft of the work programme, which included a record of recommendations and actions arising from previous meetings.

Key areas of focus for the work programme included:

• SEND and Alternative Provision: An update on changes to the strategy, government updates, priorities, and how the service will address gaps in provision for children with additional needs.
• Ofsted Report: An update on findings and progress.
• Elective Home Education: Data on the number of children educated at home, reasons provided by parents, and referral processes.
• Effectiveness of the Corporate Safeguarding Policy: Review of additional risks and ongoing monitoring of progress.
• Children's Services Budget Scrutiny and key pressures: An update on budget pressures.

The report also referenced previous Ofsted inspections of Lambeth Children's Services, noting areas for improvement identified in 2022 and subsequent focused visits in 2023 and 2024. These included the timeliness of pre-proceedings and care plans, support for connected carers, planning for disabled children, continuity of social workers, and the frequency and impact of social work visits. The work programme also took into account findings from a joint thematic inspection of work with children subject to remand in youth detention, which highlighted concerns about the over-representation of Black and mixed heritage children on remand.

The sub-committee was recommended to consider and approve the drafted work programme and identify and prioritise matters for future scrutiny. The report also listed potential future scrutiny items, including contextualised safeguarding, youth justice support for victims, youth strategy, children in care, modern forms of abuse, educational attainment, persistent absence, and pupil place planning.