This meeting's report pack describes a wide-ranging discussion of Sheffield City Council's financial affairs including the proposed budget for 2025/26, updates on current capital projects and the Council's performance against the 2024-28 Council Plan. The documents also include a proposal to change the way Council Tax support is provided to Care Leavers in Sheffield.

Support for Care Leavers with Council Tax Liabilities

This report, written by Isobel Fisher, Assistant Director of Cared for Services, asks the committee to agree to changes to the support Sheffield City Council provides to Care Leavers¹ to help them pay their Council Tax bill. It details the Council's current approach of applying statutory exemptions and discounts, and topping those up with Council Tax Support (CTS)² and funding from the Council Tax Hardship Scheme (CTHS)³. The report goes on to explain that this support is not available to all Care Leavers, and does not always reduce their Council Tax liability to nil. Some Care Leavers do not qualify because their income is too high, whilst others do not engage with the Council to claim support at all. In Sheffield, 175 Care Leavers aged between 18 and 25 currently have a Council Tax liability.

It proposes replacing this system with a new scheme in which all 'supported' Care Leavers aged between 18 and 21 will have their Council Tax liability reduced to nil after statutory discounts and exemptions have been applied, regardless of their income. This will apply from 1 April 2025, and would cost £94,300 based on the number of Care Leavers currently in this age range.

The report highlights that Sheffield has a corporate parenting responsibility to 253 Care Leavers who live outside of the City and states that it is not possible to offer them the same support with their Council Tax bills. The Leaving Care service will assess them on a case-by-case basis.

Finally, the report recommends clearing the backlog of Council Tax arrears for Care Leavers in Sheffield. The current estimate of the total amount owed is in the region of £460,000.

Council Plans Outcomes Framework Q2

This report summarises the Council's performance against the Council Plan. It is the second report to be presented to the committee since the Outcomes framework was agreed in May 2024. The report is structured by Outcomes and uses a range of metrics to illustrate progress and areas of risk or concern.

A place where all children belong and all young people can build a successful future

The report highlights the success of the Council's Building Successful Families programme, stating that 48% of this year's target of 1,652 successful family outcomes has already been achieved.

It is positive about Sheffield's Family Hubs⁴, highlighting that 75% of the 2024/25 target of families registered with Family Hubs has already been reached.

The report also draws attention to Sheffield's relatively good performance on a number of key social care measures when compared with other Local Authorities. For example, the rate of Children in Need, Children in Need of protection and Children Looked After per 10,000 is lower in Sheffield than in comparable areas. The number of first-time entrants to the Youth Justice System per 100,000 10–17 year-olds is also decreasing.

The report is optimistic about Sheffield's performance on the Participation in Education, Employment or Training indicator. 87.2% of 16–17-year-olds in Sheffield are participating in Education, Employment or Training, exceeding the average for Core Cities, Statistical Neighbours and the national average.

The report highlights pupil absence, suspensions and exclusions as key areas of concern for the committee. 25.5% of pupils in Sheffield missed at least 10% of lessons in 2023/24, compared with the national average of 20.7%. In addition to this, there has been a 17% increase in pupil exclusions in Sheffield this year compared with the previous year.

Great neighbourhoods that people are happy to call home

The report highlights the success of initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence, stating that smoking prevalence has decreased in Sheffield from 12% in 2022 to 10.3% in 2023.

The report details the improvements made to the Council's waste management services, drawing attention to an increase in the proportion of green waste being composted.

It celebrates an increase in the number of Green Flag quality awards in Sheffield, stating that Sheffield General Cemetery and Pounds Park have both been awarded Green Flags this year. Sheffield now has 18 Green Flag sites.

It also describes improvements in tenant satisfaction with the Council's housing service. Satisfaction has increased to 69% in 2024/25 from 62% in 2023/24.

The report welcomes the fact that the time taken to bring empty homes back into use has decreased, and highlights that this has been achieved by reorganising the work of the voids team.

The report expresses concern about the number of households in temporary accommodation, and highlights that the problem is particularly acute in Sheffield where the number is 'significantly over target'.

People live in caring, engaged communities that value diversity and support wellbeing

The report highlights the success of the Adult Wellbeing and Care Directorate in improving the quality of adult social care provision in Sheffield. It notes that 85% of adult social care providers in Sheffield are rated 'good' or 'outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), exceeding the target of 80%.

The report welcomes the fact that waiting times for Occupational Therapy assessments have fallen from 18 months in 2021 to four months in 2024.

It draws attention to the fact that demand for Occupational Therapy assessments has increased by 120% since 2021.

Corporate Health

The report celebrates the fact that 97.7% of business rates in Sheffield have been collected this year, and welcomes the fact that customer satisfaction with the Council's contact centre has increased to 85.5% from 73.6% in the previous year.

The report draws attention to a significant increase in the time taken to respond to complaints, and highlights an increase in the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests not being responded to on time.

2025/26 Budget Update

This report, written by Kerry Darlow, Assistant Director of Finance Business Partnering, describes the process of setting a balanced budget for 2025/26. It is positive about the progress made to date, noting that the estimated budget gap for 2025/26 has reduced from £31.4m to £1.7m.

It explains that the budget gap may change when the Local Government Finance Settlement is published on 19 December 2024.

The report highlights an increase in demand for Adults and Children's services, with a particular focus on increases in SEN transport and support for families with No Recourse to Public Funds.

It welcomes the reduction of £6m in the Council's contribution to Leisure Services following a recent retender of those services.

The report acknowledges uncertainty about a number of future costs to the Council. It mentions inflation in particular, noting that contracts for services like waste and highways are indexed to RPIX, and that the Chancellor has recently announced an increase to employers' national insurance contributions. This will affect the Council both directly and indirectly, with a particular concern about the impact it will have on subcontractors in social care. The report also explains that the Council is facing uncertainty because of the government's decision to impose a 2% productivity target on government departments, and that pay increases are currently projected at 3% for 2025/26, but may be higher than that. It draws attention to uncertainty about the Council's income, pointing out that a number of grant funding programmes are due to expire in 2024/25. It also notes that the Council is currently forecasting an in-year overspend of £34m which may increase the budget gap.

The report identifies possible opportunities to reduce the budget gap. This includes the recently announced £600m one-off 'Recovery' grant, the income that will be generated by the Council's ongoing review of Sales, Fees and Charges, and savings arising from the Future Sheffield programme.

The report states that the Council's reserves are likely to be insufficient to balance the budget and urges Members to take a 'cross-Council' approach to resolving the issue.

25-26 Revenue Budget Update Report - HRA

This report describes the process of setting a balanced budget for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)⁵ in 2025/26. It notes that the estimated budget gap is currently £6.7m and that, in order to balance the HRA budget this will need to be offset by a reduction in the HRA's contribution to the Council's capital programme.

The report details the impact a number of recent government policies and initiatives are likely to have on the HRA, including the Social Housing Rent Standard, the Social Housing Regulator's new Consumer Standards, the Building Safety Act and the new Decent Homes Standard.

It explains that a number of budgetary pressures are impacting the HRA. This includes inflation in construction costs and materials, the need to implement changes to comply with new regulatory standards and demand for investment in fire and building safety.

The report highlights a number of potential opportunities to address the budget gap. This includes anticipated increases in rental income and income from leaseholder charges, the proposed reduction of empty properties (voids) to increase rental income, the recent government decision to allow local authorities to keep 100% of Right to Buy receipts and the ongoing review of sales, fees and charges.

The report concludes by urging Members to work together to identify further savings.

Capital Approvals Month 7 (2024/25)

This report provides an update on the Council's capital programme. It asks the committee to approve expenditure on a number of projects across the Council.

Transport Regeneration & Climate Change

The report requests an allocation of £175,000 for the demolition of the former Hurlfield View Care Home in Sheffield 12. This will remove a liability for the Council and reduce anti-social behaviour.

It also asks the committee to approve an additional £690,000 for the Asset Enhancement Sites programme. £690,000 of this will come from a successful bid to the One Public Estate Brownfield Land Release Fund, and will be used to decontaminate land at Ardmore Street in Darnall.

In addition to this, it asks for approval to add £4,400,000 to the capital programme for the Attercliffe Waterside development. This is for the Council to passport South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Brownfield Housing Fund grant funding to Attercliffe Waterside Ltd for the development of 900 homes on the site.

Communities, Parks and Leisure

The report asks the committee to approve £19,100 for feasibility work on a new play area at Mount Pleasant Park in Sharrow. This would complement improvements to the Highfield Adventure Playground, which are being funded through the Youth Investment Fund.

It also asks for approval for £150,200 of funding for improvements to Longley Park. This would replace a play area for older children and create a dual use basketball/netball court.

Adult Health & Social Care

The report requests £755,400 of Social Care Capital Grant funding to install digital telecare equipment as part of the Council's Citywide Care Alarms service.

Housing

The report asks for approval to spend £450,000 to create a community green space at Spotswood Green in Gleadless Valley. This will act as an anchor for other investment in the area as part of the Council's Gleadless Valley Masterplan.

It also requests £71,900 to relocate a bin store at Hanover Tower.

Education Children & Families

The report asks the committee to approve the demolition of the caretaker's house at Dore Primary School. This would allow for the construction of a new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) facility. It also asks for £21,300 of funding to refurbish an underused area at Sheffield Inclusion Centre.

Finally, it asks for an increase of £64,500 to fund the final phase of works to refurbish Aldine House, a Secure Children's Home.

Strategy & Resources

The report asks the committee to approve £320,000 for the installation of new LED lighting at 7 community buildings. £202,200 of this will be funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with the remaining £118,400 being met by the Council's Local Renewable Energy Fund. The proposed buildings are:

• Bradway Annex
• Norfolk Park Centre
• Firth Park Library
• Sharrow Lane
• Verdon Street Centre
• Chapeltown Library
• Tinsley Community Centre

Please note, it is not certain that any of the topics mentioned above will actually be discussed during the meeting, or that any decisions will actually be taken.