The Impact of Scrutiny Advisory Committee (ISAC) met on Friday 4 September 2026 to review the council's 2026 budget scrutiny. The meeting's agenda focused on examining the implementation of recommendations from previous scrutiny reviews across various council portfolios, including Children's Social Care, Education, Highways, Environment, Adult Care Services, Public Health, and Resources.

Budget Scrutiny 2026

The committee was scheduled to review the progress made on recommendations stemming from the 2026 Budget Scrutiny. This process involved examining the draft budget and medium-term financial plans, testing the realism of financial assumptions, identifying financial risks, and assessing alignment with corporate priorities. The report pack detailed recommendations made for each portfolio, along with the responses from Executive Members and Lead Officers, and the actions undertaken. The committee was invited to consider the report and the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review.

The report pack included detailed responses and actions related to specific recommendations across several council areas:

Children's Social Care

Recommendations focused on improving the transparency of care leaver funding, ensuring clearer summaries of overall support, key pressures, investment areas, and planned outcomes. There was also a recommendation to monitor sufficiency actions, recruitment progress, and the impact of support models for foster carers to address demand pressures and reduce reliance on higher-cost placements. Furthermore, a recommendation was made to maintain a strong focus on recruitment and retention across the workforce, including employees and foster carers, and to consider adapting the residential academy model for training social workers to other parts of the council.

Education, SEND & Inclusion

A key recommendation concerned the provision of an overview of the impact of the government's SEND white paper on the budget, to be presented either as an appendix at full council or to the next OSC meeting. The committee also considered a recommendation for the Cabinet to explore whether investment in the existing internal fleet could deliver savings in the home-to-school transport budget in the medium term. Additionally, a recommendation was made for additional detail to be provided via Cabinet Panel regarding planned savings once final grant settlements were known and more detailed implementation plans were available, specifically for line items S105, S12, S42, and S43.

Highways

The committee was scheduled to discuss a recommendation regarding income from New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) and how this is reflected in the budget. The report indicated that NRSWA fines and permit fees are determined by nationally set rates.

Environment, Transport & Growth

Several recommendations were scheduled for discussion. One focused on the Active Travel strategy, recommending a short report to Cabinet Panel explaining how the revised Speed Management Strategy would expedite delivery, incorporating lessons learned and outlining success measures. This included questions about the time taken for comparable schemes previously versus under the new approach, lessons learned from earlier schemes, key risks to delivering 20mph schemes at pace, and how success would be monitored. Another recommendation addressed education for residents on Active Travel, particularly in harder-to-engage communities, and suggested a low-cost, community-led education initiative. A further recommendation concerned waste management, asking what actions were being taken to mitigate pressures related to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while awaiting greater national clarity, and recommending strengthened forward planning and financial resilience around ETS and waste pressures. Finally, a recommendation was made for the Council to survey residents along existing Herts Lynx routes to identify villages where vehicles pass but do not stop, to make the service more demand-led, and to use these findings to optimise stopping patterns.

Adult Care Services

The committee was set to review recommendations concerning the ADS Accommodation Strategy, including the need for a robust set of measures to monitor the strategy's progress, quality of output, number of residents served, and savings delivered. This was to include quarterly reports scrutinising costs, savings, delivery milestones, and service outcomes, alongside biannual reports on project financial stability. A recommendation was also made to closely monitor turnover in the care sector, with a biannual dashboard covering turnover, vacancies, agency use, and pay benchmarking, establishing a threshold for high turnover. Annual reviews were also recommended to propose additional measures to reduce staff turnover and monitor the impacts of existing measures on workforce stability. Furthermore, the committee was to consider recommendations regarding the Connect and Prevent programme, advocating for quarterly reporting and annual reviews of costs, savings, demand impacts, and resident outcomes. A recommendation was also made for a rolling long-term plan (3-5 years) of anticipated facility disposals and expected capital receipts, alongside regular updates on delays or financial risks, and reviews of the impact of site disposal on residents and staff.

Public Health & Community Safety

Recommendations included ensuring procedures were in place to mitigate the risk of further delays to the Longfield capital project, providing a timeline and detailing monitoring and risk mitigation. The committee was also to discuss the public health grant, with a recommendation for officers to share the central government response and consider further representations, along with measures to monitor the potential impact of lower funding. A recommendation was made to consider seeking capital contributions from other agencies for Longfield to be marketed as a training facility. Finally, the committee was to consider a recommendation for the Council to monitor joint funding with partners more carefully where funding may not be used as effectively as hoped, and to receive a briefing on the impact of Local Government Reorganisation on Public Health and Community Safety services once clarity emerges.

Resources & Performance

The committee was scheduled to discuss recommendations regarding staffing levels and their impact on service delivery, with a call for clarity on new service levels for residents. A strong emphasis was to be placed on staff morale, recruitment, and retention, with a recommendation for Hertfordshire County Council to remain an attractive employer. The committee was also to consider a recommendation for an urgent review of all capital schemes, costed at current prices, and for the review of the capital programme to consider the full cost of expected Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) spend. Finally, a recommendation was made to drive innovation by considering ringfenced funding for staff to innovate and drive efficiencies, and to continue reviewing assets to ensure optimal utilisation.

Strategic Overview of Budget

The committee was scheduled to review recommendations concerning the High Needs Deficit, including a review of the financial sustainability of the growing impact of the high needs block and the preparation of a contingency plan. A recommendation was also to be discussed regarding the Council's reserves, noting they had fallen to dangerously low levels, and recommending a review of the Reserves Management Strategy to explore how reserves could be increased. Staffing risks associated with Local Government Reorganisation were also on the agenda, with a recommendation for greater focus on making Hertfordshire County Council an attractive staffing environment. Finally, the committee was to consider recommendations regarding driving innovation through ringfenced funding for staff to innovate and drive efficiencies, and the continued review of council assets. The financial viability of the Capital Programme and its impact on future interest and borrowing costs was also scheduled for discussion.