The Impact of Scrutiny Advisory Committee of Hertfordshire Council met on Friday 4 September 2026 to review the council's budget for 2026 and consider the progress made on previous scrutiny recommendations. The meeting's agenda focused heavily on budget scrutiny across various council departments, including Children's Social Care, Education, Highways, Environment, Adult Care Services, Public Health, and Resources.

Budget Scrutiny 2026

The committee was scheduled to undertake a comprehensive scrutiny of the council's budget for 2026 and its Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The objectives of this scrutiny included examining draft budgets and financial plans, testing the realism of income, savings, and expenditure assumptions, identifying financial risks and sustainability issues, and assessing alignment with corporate priorities and service outcomes. The report pack detailed recommendations made for each portfolio, along with the Executive Member and Lead Officer responses and the actions undertaken. The committee was invited to note the report and consider whether the recommendations of the scrutiny review should be signed off as complete.

The budget scrutiny covered several key areas:

Children's Social Care

Discussions were scheduled to cover the budget for Children's Social Care. A recommendation addressed the transparency of care leaver funding, suggesting that future budget presentations should include a clearer summary of overall support for care leavers, key pressures, investment areas, and planned outcomes. The report noted that while care leaver expenditure is spread across various services, a clearer summary would enhance transparency. It was also highlighted that the care leavers budget, though increased in previous years, was flat-lined for the current year without factoring in inflation and an increase in Children Looked After (CLA) numbers.

Further recommendations focused on fostering and adoption allowances, suggesting continued monitoring of sufficiency actions, recruitment progress, and the impact of support models like Mockingbird hubs to address demand pressures and reduce reliance on higher-cost placements. The department was also advised to maintain a strong focus on recruitment and retention for both employees and foster carers. Consideration was to be given to adapting the residential academy model for training residential social workers to other parts of the council.

Education, SEND & Inclusion

The agenda included a review of the Education, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) & Inclusion budget. A key recommendation was for the council to provide an overview of the impact of the government's SEND white paper on the budget, either as an appendix to the full council meeting or to the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting. The report indicated that the SEND white paper had been published, and a Hertfordshire Partnership Reform Plan had been drafted, with responses to be presented to the Education, SEND & Inclusion Cabinet Panel.

Additionally, the committee was to consider 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. The report noted that the Integrated Transport Unit, which manages the internal fleet, sits within the Growth & Environment directorate, and decisions to invest further would originate at a Resources & Performance level.

Highways

The Highways portfolio budget was scheduled for discussion. A recommendation highlighted the income generated from New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) fines and permit fees, suggesting that further detail and clarification be provided on how this income is reflected within the budget. The report explained that NRSWA fines and permit fees are determined by nationally set rates. For the 2026/27 financial year, the income budget had been increased due to amendments to regulations that doubled fixed penalties for common permit breaches, aiming to incentivise behaviour change from utilities providers.

Environment, Transport & Growth

The Environment, Transport & Growth portfolio budget was on the agenda. A recommendation concerning Active Travel suggested that a short report be provided to the Cabinet Panel explaining how the revised Speed Management Strategy would expedite delivery, incorporating lessons learned and outlining success measures. This report was intended to detail the time taken for comparable schemes previously and under the new approach, lessons learned from earlier schemes, key risks to delivering 20mph schemes at pace, and how success would be monitored and reported.

Further recommendations related to Active Travel focused on strengthening education for residents, particularly in harder-to-engage communities, and considering a low-cost, community-led education initiative, such as a school-created video competition, to support public understanding of Active Travel and sustainable transport schemes.

The committee was also scheduled to discuss waste management. A recommendation highlighted the difficulty in quantifying Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) pressures and projected medium-term budget impacts, urging that actions be taken to mitigate these pressures while awaiting greater national clarity. The report noted that until the full UK Authority ESG response was received, the scale of pressure and its application to Hertfordshire Authorities remained unknown. Mitigation strategies included reducing the fossil-based content of residual waste, optimising kerbside and recycling centre services, developing residual waste pre-treatment business cases, and exploring Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Adult Care Services

The Adult Care Services budget was a key item. The committee was to consider recommendations regarding the ADS Accommodation Strategy, which involves redeveloping care facilities through the disposal of older sites. A recommendation proposed the publication of robust measures to ensure detailed monitoring of this strategy, including its output quality, the number of residents served, and savings delivered compared to previous arrangements. This was to be in the form of quarterly reports scrutinising costs, savings, delivery milestones, and service outcomes, alongside biannual reports on the financial stability of major projects.

Another recommendation addressed workforce issues within the care sector. It proposed that turnover in the Hertfordshire care sector be closely monitored through a biannual dashboard covering turnover, vacancies, agency use, and pay benchmarking, with a threshold established for high turnover to trigger specific investigations. Annual reviews were also recommended to propose additional measures to reduce staff turnover, in addition to pay increases, and to encourage private care providers to pass on payment increases directly to care staff.

Public Health & Community Safety

The Public Health & Community Safety budget was on the agenda. A recommendation concerning the Longfield capital project urged the council to ensure procedures were in place to mitigate the risk of further delays, providing a timeline and detailing monitoring and risk mitigation plans. The report indicated that the HCC Property team was responsible for project management and had produced a full project plan and risk plan.

A further recommendation addressed the public health grant, suggesting that officers share the central government response with the panel and scrutiny group. Following analysis of this response, further representations were to be considered, with measures in place to monitor the potential impact of lower funding. The Executive Member had written to the relevant minister, and a response had been received, which was being considered.

Resources & Performance

The Resources & Performance portfolio budget was scheduled for discussion. A recommendation highlighted that the capital programme had not been fully costed and urged an urgent review of all schemes at current prices. The report stated that the capital programme included in the published budget undergoes a process to ensure it is costed and incorporated into budget forecasts, including the cost of schemes, funding, and the revenue costs of borrowing.

Another recommendation proposed that the review of the capital programme consider the full cost of expected Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) spend, approximately £100 million, rather than a singular £10 million in the next financial year. The report noted that LGR submissions to the government outlined transformation costs in the region of £100 million, with councils across Hertfordshire including £20 million in their budgets.

Strategic Overview of Budget

The committee was also set to discuss the strategic overview of the overall budget. A recommendation addressed the high needs deficit, suggesting a review of the financial sustainability of the growing impact of the high needs block, including the exploration of various scenarios and the preparation of a contingency plan should government assistance not materialise as envisaged. The report stated that the government had confirmed its position to cover 90% of deficits in the final settlement.

Another recommendation concerned reserves, noting that they had fallen to dangerously low levels and recommending a review of the Council's Reserves Management Strategy to improve the council's ability to withstand significant financial challenges. The report indicated that the final budget position had enabled a contribution to reserves, but any further contribution would require a reduction in spending.

Staffing risks associated with Local Government Reorganisation were also to be discussed. A recommendation proposed placing greater focus on making Hertfordshire County Council an attractive staffing environment to ensure the authority has the capacity to deliver services and efficiencies. The response highlighted ongoing efforts to introduce leadership programmes, monitor workforce metrics, and engage staff through surveys and dedicated LGR workstreams.

Finally, the committee was scheduled to consider recommendations on driving innovation and asset management. The report welcomed funding ringfenced within the Education, SEND and Inclusion budget for innovation and recommended that other directorates consider similar ringfenced funding. Regarding assets, the council was recommended to continue reviewing its assets to ensure they are utilised to their fullest extent, balancing the value of capital receipts from sales with the need to avoid assets becoming liabilities.

The meeting also included a review of future meeting dates, with the next scheduled meetings for 25 February 2027 and 9 July 2027.