The Budget, Performance and Coordinating Committee of Waltham Forest Council met to review the Council's financial outturn for the 2025-26 period, including capital and revenue expenditure, the Housing Revenue Account, and the Dedicated Schools Grant. The committee also received an introduction to the Corporate Impact Framework, a tool designed to provide a high-level overview of council performance and resident experience. Additionally, the draft Scrutiny Annual Report for 2025-26 was presented for review, alongside the committee's forward plan for the upcoming municipal year.

Overview of Chief Executive Directorate

Amy Buxton-Jennings, Strategic Director for Strategy, Change & Communities, presented an overview of the Chief Executive Directorate's services. This included details on the priorities, challenges, and risks within the Communications and Campaigns team, focusing on establishing a coherent narrative and visual identity for the council's emerging priorities, and enhancing social media delivery. The Workforce and Culture function, encompassing HR, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Organisational Development, and Health, Safety and Wellbeing, was also outlined. Key achievements included a significant reduction in agency spend and reliance, an increase in internal promotions, and high staff engagement scores. Challenges identified were maintaining employee engagement during ongoing change and balancing headcount reduction with career progression opportunities. Resident Experience, Business Support, Digital and Technology Services were also detailed, highlighting priorities such as streamlining activity through automation and digital tools, refreshing the council's website with a resident-centred design approach, and focusing on innovation in Technology Services, including the adoption of AI and cybersecurity measures. The Strategy, Change and Communities directorate's role in shaping strategic priorities was explained, with a focus on tackling inequality, empowering communities, and transforming the council's culture and practices.

Capital and Revenue Outturn 2025-26

Ursula Gamble, Corporate Director of Financial Services, presented the Capital and Revenue Outturn for the 2025-26 financial year. The report detailed a £2.710m drawdown from reserves to balance the General Fund revenue expenditure, while the Housing Revenue Account showed a £5.612m underspend. The Dedicated Schools Grant reported an in-year deficit of £10.914m in the high needs block, leading to a cumulative deficit of £14.320m. For capital expenditure, the report indicated an overall underspend of £28.716m against the approved budget, with significant slippage noted in Housing General Fund and Housing Delivery and Assets. The committee was presented with this information for review.

Introduction to the Corporate Impact Framework

Daniel Gardiner, Assistant Director of Strategy & Design, and Tom Dowler, Assistant Director of Data, introduced the Corporate Impact Framework (CIF). This framework uses approximately 90 impact metrics from across service data to provide a high-level view of council performance, impact, and resident experience. The CIF dashboard includes commentary on trends, contextual information, and planned interventions. Metrics are selected based on being high-level, demonstrating council impact, being regularly updated, relating to strategic priorities, and having available benchmarking data. The committee was presented with the framework for review and discussion on how its approach to data and insight could respond to key corporate priorities and encourage more mature conversations around data and impact. The report also touched upon the Local Outcomes Framework (LOF), a national government initiative, and the development of an internal dashboard to align with LOF performance metrics.

Scrutiny Annual Report

Rosie Whillock, Scrutiny Policy Assistant, presented the draft Scrutiny Annual Report for the 2025-26 municipal year. This report summarises the work undertaken by all scrutiny committees, including themed reviews and collaborative efforts. The committee was invited to review the draft and provide comments before the final version is presented to Full Council. The report also highlighted the work of the Young Advisors and the Scrutiny Training Programme.

The Scrutiny Report

This item, presented by Holly Brogden-Knight, Democratic Services Officer, focused on the Action Tracker and Recommendation Tracker from the previous meeting. The Action Tracker details tasks assigned to officers, with updates on their completion status. The Recommendation Tracker summarises the committee's conclusions on service improvements. The committee was also presented with the Cabinet Forward Plan and a list of proposed forward plan items for each scrutiny committee for the 2026-27 municipal year, with the opportunity to suggest additional items for consideration. The Scrutiny Prioritisation Tool was referenced to guide the selection of future scrutiny topics.

The meeting also included reports on specific performance metrics, such as:

• Waltham Forest Housing: Decent Homes: This report detailed the percentage of non-decent homes across various wards, with a focus on elements like roofs, windows, and doors being the primary causes of failure.
• Knife Crime Ward Data: Data for the 12 months ending February 2026 showed a decrease in recorded knife crime offences, with the highest numbers in High Street, Forest, and Leyton Wards. Knife injury victims under 25 also saw a significant decrease.
• Possession of Weapons Offences: There was a decrease in recorded possession of weapons offences in Waltham Forest, with the highest numbers in Hoe Street, Lea Bridge, and Leyton Wards.
• Capital and Revenue Outturn 2025-26: This report provided a detailed breakdown of the Council's financial performance, including overspends in Adult Social Care and Children's Services, and underspends in Neighbourhoods and Environment. It also detailed capital expenditure across directorates, noting significant slippage in Housing General Fund and Housing Delivery and Assets.
• Corporate Impact Framework: This report introduced the CIF dashboard, highlighting its use in monitoring organisational health and resident experience, with metrics covering various service areas and internal functions.
• Monthly & Quarterly Metrics: Several commentary pieces provided updates on specific performance indicators, including:
  • Building Safety compliance.
  • Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) for overall satisfaction and repairs completion.
  • Households in Temporary Accommodation (TA) and the net cost of TA.
  • Delivery of new homes.
  • Unemployment claimant count.
  • Stage 1 complaints performance.
  • Net enterprise change rate.
  • Average wait times for calls to the contact centre.
  • Decent Homes Standard compliance.
  • Outstanding debt analysis.
  • Adult Social Care contacts and reviews.
  • Agency headcount reduction.
  • Substance use treatment numbers.
  • 2-2.5 year old review uptake.
  • Cycling figures.
  • Warm Homes Local Grant delivery.
  • Ethnicity and Gender Pay Gaps.
  • Domestic abuse offences and sanction detections.
  • Recorded crime statistics.
  • Fly-tipping incidents.
  • Recycling performance.
  • Missed bin reports.
  • Civil Penalties issued for private sector housing breaches.
  • Retrofit works on council properties.
  • Average social worker caseload.
  • Number of children in care homes.
  • Properties recovered by the CAFT team.
  • Council Tax and Business Rates collection rates.
  • SEND services performance.
  • Children's Social Care referrals and children seen by social workers.
  • Rate of Looked After Children per 10,000.
  • Re-referral rate to CSC.
  • Children on child protection plans.

The meeting also included the presentation of the Cabinet Forward Plan and a list of proposed forward plan items for each scrutiny committee for the 2026-27 municipal year.