The meeting of Oldham Council's Governance, Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board included a report on the performance of the council's services, a financial update and details of the complaints the council received from people who live in council homes. It also considered the work programme for the rest of the financial year.

Financial Update

The board was scheduled to receive a report on the council's finances. The report notes that the council is currently projecting an overspend of £9.956m, and that if no action is taken to address this, by the end of the year it will have overspent by £19.912m. The report goes on to highlight the areas in which the council is facing the biggest overspends. These include Adult Social Care, which is currently projecting an overspend of £7.608m, Children's Services, which is projecting a £13.179m overspend, and Strategic Housing, and in particular temporary accommodation, which is forecasting a £5.304m overspend.

The report goes on to describe the actions that the council is taking to mitigate the overspend. This includes reducing corporate spending, reviewing and reducing management and administration, reviewing service operations and processes, income maximisation, and reviewing placements, contracts, and commissioned services.

A revised reserves policy was also scheduled to be discussed. The report notes that the council had earmarked reserves of £49.646m at the start of the financial year, and it is currently projecting that it will spend £35.696m of that by the end of the year.

Corporate Performance Report

A report on the performance of all of the council's services was also scheduled to be discussed (2024 12 04 CorpResources CPR Q2Report). The report, which details the performance of Customer Services, Finance, Human Resources and Organisational Development, IT, and Communications and Research, notes that the performance of the Complaints Team is significantly below target, with only 50% of complaints being responded to within the target timescale. The report goes on to say that the Complaints Team has recently undergone a service review, and that an update on the team's performance is due to be presented to the Management Board in October.

Housing Complaints Annual Report

The board was scheduled to consider the annual housing complaints report. This report details the number of complaints that were made to the council by people who live in council homes during the previous year, and describes the outcomes of those complaints. The report notes that the council did not receive any complaints directly from tenants. It goes on to say that Inspiral Oldham, who manage 627 properties for the council, received 15 complaints, and Housing 21, who manage 1429 properties for the council, received 8 complaints.

The most common themes of the complaints that were made to Inspiral Oldham included repairs and property maintenance, grounds maintenance, and customer experience. Housing 21's complaints mostly related to repairs and property maintenance, grounds maintenance and housing maintenance.

Work Programme

The Board also considered the work programme for the remainder of the financial year. The work programme includes reports on the performance of the council, the council's finances, and the risks the council faces from its partnerships. The board was also scheduled to scrutinise the council's Health and Safety Policy, and to consider a report on the Local Government Ombudsman. The work programme also includes plans for two task and finish groups: one that will look at how the council communicates with residents and their experience of the council, and another that will assess the impact of the proposed health integration on the council.