This meeting will include a report on the 2025/26 Draft Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2029/30. The report pack notes that the budget gap for 2025/26 is currently forecast to be £17.4 million. In addition, the report pack notes that the financial pressures faced by the council will likely lead to difficult decisions and that further council tax rises will need to be considered. The report pack states that the government's recent budget announcements included funding for social care, but that the amount of this funding that Surrey Council will receive is dependent upon a number of factors including the government's chosen methodology for allocating these funds. The council's draft capital programme for the period 2025/26 to 2029/30, is £1.4 billion and includes funding for a range of projects across the county.

A petition objecting to the proposed closure of the Bagshot Community Recycling Centre has been received by the council. 922 signatures were gathered for the petition that was submitted by Councillor Richard Wilson¹. Councillor Wilson is a Councillor for the Old Dean ward of Surrey Heath Borough Council. The accompanying report pack notes that the petition was started on the Change.org website, and that only signatures collected prior to the petition being submitted to the council are valid. 43% of the signatories were from Surrey. A report recommending the permanent closure of the Bagshot CRC, and the opening of the Camberley CRC for an extra day a week, is included in the report pack. The report pack notes that Surrey County Council allowed residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to use the Bagshot facility and that should the Bagshot CRC close, residents of RBWM would be able to use the Lyne CRC in Chertsey.

The meeting will receive a report from the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee which met on 12 September 2024 to discuss the issue of children not in school. The Select Committee heard that in June 2024, 2,300 children in Surrey were electively home educated. The report notes that the increase in home education was primarily due to dissatisfaction with the school or not getting the family’s preferred placement. 87 children were categorised as missing education, 2,783 children were classified as severely absent, with 34.9% of these children having an Education, Health and Care Plan². An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document that describes a child or young person's special educational, health and social care needs. The EHCP describes the extra help that will be given to meet those needs and how that help will support the child or young person to achieve their goals. The report pack includes the Cabinet's response to the Select Committee's findings. The response states that the council is unable to implement the recommendation in relation to those who are EHE (Electively Home Educated). The response goes on to say that, in relation to EHE there is no obligation for parents to share achievement and destination data with the Local Authority.

The meeting will consider a report on a Surrey Lifetime of Learning strategy. The strategy was developed by Surrey's Education Partnership. It identifies four lifetimes of learning: Foundations for life, Thriving in learning, Flourishing Young Adults and For economic growth and personal well-being, and aims to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged learners in Surrey. The report pack notes that in 2023, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who achieved at least the expected level in Reading, Writing and Maths in their Key Stage 2 SATS³ ranged from 28.6% in Epsom and Ewell to 44.5% in Elmbridge. Key Stage 2 SATS are national curriculum tests taken by children in England at the end of Year 6 (age 10 or 11). They are used to assess children's progress in English and mathematics. The strategy has four priorities: Improving communication, language and literacy across all ages and phases for all groups, Understanding and addressing issues that result in low and non-attendance and engagement in education settings, Ensuring education settings have the skills, confidence and understanding to support children, young people and adult emotional wellbeing to enable them to thrive and learn and Recruiting, retaining and growing the best teachers, practitioners and leaders. Providing them with high quality continuing professional development opportunities through their careers.

The meeting will consider whether to approve plans to introduce a digital post-mortem service at Surrey Council. The report notes that other areas with digital capability report that approx. 70-75% of all post-mortems can be done digitally and that the introduction of a digital post-mortem service would result in a reduction in the number of invasive post-mortems conducted in the county. The report pack notes that the current service provider, Berkshire Surrey Pathology Services, cannot guarantee required service levels and that the service is facing uncontrolled rising costs year-on-year. The cost of purchasing the digital post-mortem equipment, and adapting the existing temporary body storage facility at Wray Park, is estimated to be £1.15 million.

The Registration and Nationality Service will present a report on a new operating model for the service. The report proposes a number of changes to the service including: the provision of a localised registration offer to be delivered in 11 locations, the establishment of a Central Admin Office to co-locate and centralise administrative functions and investment in existing ceremony building(s) to provide a better offer for customers & increase income. The report pack states that the service is self-funding and that any surplus income ... contributes to the Council’s overall budget. The cost of implementing the new operating model is £2 million and the report pack notes that this will be funded through a later capital receipt from asset disposal and increased service income.

A report recommending a Residential and Nursing Care Delivery Strategy is included in the report pack. The report notes that there are 213 residential and nursing care homes registered with the CQC⁴ in Surrey. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. The report goes on to say that the council's ambition is to create a 'Homes for the future' model of care to be implemented in partnership with the NHS and local care home providers. Surrey County Council currently owns 16 residential care homes which it leases to Care UK and Anchor. In 2022, the council closed eight of its care homes, all of which were leased to Anchor, following a public consultation. The remaining nine care homes leased to Anchor, and the seven care homes leased to Care UK, are the subject of the strategy, with the report pack noting that early analysis has shown that some of the 16 homes are not designed to support future needs. The report requests £3.6 million to fund the feasibility studies for the project. The report notes that these funds will be taken from the existing allocation in the capital pipeline for the Right Homes Right Support Programme.

The Cabinet will be asked to approve the sale of Abbeywood, a former care home in Ash. The report notes that Abbeywood closed in 2022, and that a number of bids were received for the property, the details of which are included in a confidential part 2 report. The freehold for the property is being sold with vacant possession.

The Cabinet will consider whether to approve the sale of Arundel House, a former care home in Banstead. Arundel House was closed in 2023 and has been vacant since then. Twenty-nine bids were received for the property.

The freehold of the former Barnfield care home in Horley will be considered for disposal during the meeting. The report pack notes that Barnfield was closed in 2023 because it was deemed not fit for purpose and that since then the building has been vacant. The freehold will be sold with vacant possession.

The meeting will receive a report on the financial position of the council. As of 30 September 2024, the council is forecasting an overspend of £18.6 million for the current financial year, which represents an increase of £1.9 million on the previous month's forecast. The report pack notes that the in-year financial position is challenging particularly in relation to the significant costs increases in children’s and adults social care placements and Home to School Travel Assistance. The report pack states that at the point of publication there remains a provisional budget gap for 2025/26 of £17.4m, driven primarily by the need to maintain the delivery of priority services experiencing increasing demand pressures and higher than inflationary price increases. The report pack states that, work is being undertaken to contain the overspend in the home to school transport budget which is now at £7.4m. In addition to the forecast overspend, the council has identified £10.5 million of risks to its budget.