This meeting was scheduled to consider the Council's finances and to approve the work programmes of the four Scrutiny Panels. It also included an update on the delivery of agreed budget savings and management actions.

2024/25 Finance Update Quarter 2

The report pack contained the Quarter 2 Finance Update for 2024/25, which showed a projected overspend on General Fund services of £37.2m, an increase of £17.2m since Quarter 1.

Despite efforts to accurately forecast, and provide for 2024/25 cost pressures, these have proved insufficient and at Quarter 2 there is a £37.2m forecast overspend for the year on General Fund services... The total overspend is made up of £29.5m service pressures from increased demand and cost of service provision and £7.7m as a result of the non-delivery of savings.

The two services with the biggest projected overspends were Adults social care, which was forecast to be £14.6m over budget, and Housing Demand, which had a projected overspend of £11.9m. The report described the financial challenges affecting Adult Social care as being driven by the increasing number of older adults requiring a support package. In addition, the average cost of these care packages was greater than anticipated when the budget was set. There was also a projected overspend in relation to younger adults with a care package, with increasing numbers transitioning to adulthood and thereby increasing the long-term costs to be met by the service.

The financial pressure on the Housing Demand budget continued to be driven by increasing demand for temporary accommodation. The report pack also contained a revised savings tracker for 2024/25 which showed that, at Quarter 2, £12.9m (63%) of the total savings and management actions for the year were forecast to deliver as planned. This meant there was a projected shortfall of £7.5m against the overall savings target of £20.4m.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Panel Work Programme

The report pack contained a report detailing the work programmes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its four Scrutiny Panels. The report was scheduled to be introduced by Philip Slawther, Principal Scrutiny Officer. The report pack also contained the work programmes of the four Scrutiny Panels, which were scheduled to be approved by the Committee:

• Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel Work Plan 2024-26
• Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel Work Plan 2024-26
• Culture, Community Safety & Environment Scrutiny Panel Work Plan 2024-25
• Housing, Planning & Development Scrutiny Panel Work Plan 2024-26

The report noted that the work programme for the Culture, Community Safety & Environment panel was in draft format and was due to be agreed at its meeting on 17 December 2024.

Scrutiny of the 2025/26 Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2025/2030 - Savings Tracker

The report pack included the revised savings tracker for 2025-29, which detailed the progress made in meeting the savings targets set out in the 2025/26 draft budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2025/2030.

Update from the Director of Finance

An update on the budget from the Director of Finance, Taryn Eves, was scheduled to be provided.

Finance Update Quarter 2

The Committee was scheduled to receive and consider the in-year budget monitoring report as at Quarter 2 of 2025/26.

Work Programme Update

An update to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee's work programme was scheduled to be considered.