The Cabinet of Shropshire Council were scheduled to meet on 9 July 2025 to discuss the annual treasury management, customer feedback, financial monitoring, a SEND strategy, planning reforms and the transfer of coroner's officers to the council.

Shropshire SEND and AP Strategy

The Cabinet were scheduled to consider the final draft of the Shropshire Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Strategy 2025 – 2029, and recommend its adoption to the full Council in September. The strategy is aimed at supporting the SEND and AP Area Partnership, to improve services for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including looked after children and young people and care leavers with SEND to age 25.

The Cabinet were also scheduled to consider the draft Outcomes Framework and recommend its adoption to full Council in September as a live working document, with the aim of focusing on improving outcomes for children, young people and families. The Outcomes Framework is intended to take a single, unified approach to improving outcomes for children and young people, including tracking impact across all the services that are part of the SEND and AP Area Partnership.

The report pack stated that the strategy and framework had been developed with the Shropshire Parent and Carer Council (PACC), the SEND Independent Advice Support Service (SENDIASS), children, young people and families, early years settings, schools, colleges, practitioners, elected members, the voluntary sector, and the NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care System.

The report pack noted that a You said, we did update was being finalised to demonstrate how feedback had been incorporated into the strategy and outcomes framework.

The Cabinet were expected to receive an update in six months on the development of implementation plans and the refinement of multi-agency workstreams to deliver the strategy, including a progress update on measurable outcomes and further refinement of the Outcomes Framework.

National Planning Reform Consultations

The Cabinet were scheduled to consider and approve the council's proposed responses to a series of government consultations on reforms to the planning system. The consultations addressed the speed and transparency of housing build-out, site thresholds in decision making, and planning committees.

The consultations included:

• Planning reform working paper: speeding up build out
• Technical consultation: implementing measures to improve build out transparency
• Planning reform working paper: reforming site thresholds
• Technical consultation: reform of planning committees

The proposed responses aimed to ensure that the reforms align with and support the achievement of sustainable development in Shropshire and through this, the Shropshire Plan.

The proposed response to the Planning reform working paper: speeding up build out was generally supportive of proposals regarding models of housebuilding which build faster, but considered that the threshold for mixed tenure development should be more responsive to the community.

The proposed response to the Technical consultation on implementing measures to improve build out transparency was generally supportive of the introduction of these measures, but considered that the threshold for build-out statements should be the formation of one or more dwelling.

The proposed response to the Planning reform working paper: reforming site thresholds was generally supportive of the principle of introducing a 'medium' scale development category within the planning process.

The proposed response to the Reform of planning committees: technical consultation opposed the introduction of a national scheme of delegation, advocating the continuation of a local approach to delegation in order to maintain local democratic oversight.

Annual Customer Feedback Report

The Cabinet were scheduled to consider the Annual Customer Feedback Report for 2024/25. The report summarised formal customer feedback received by Shropshire Council, including complaints, compliments and comments.

The report noted that in 2024/25, the council received 3,079 cases of feedback, including 2,386 complaint cases resulting in 952 complaint investigations, 245 comments and 448 compliments. The report also noted that there had been some improvement in average response times, but challenges remained linked to increasing complexity and growing customer demand.

The report highlighted that more complaints were progressing beyond stage 1, and that this presented the risk that complaints were taking longer to address and action/budget to remedy issues was becoming more challenging.

The report also included a self-assessment against implementation of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code¹.

The Cabinet were asked to consider the recommendations and actions in the Annual Customer Feedback Report to support and improve customer feedback performance within Shropshire Council.

Annual Treasury Management Report

The Cabinet were scheduled to consider the Annual Treasury Management Report 2024/25. The report provided a review of the council's treasury management activities, including borrowing and investment strategies, and compliance with treasury limits and prudential indicators².

The report noted that during 2024/25, the council complied with its legislative and regulatory requirements, and that treasury activities during the year had been within approved prudential and treasury indicators set and had complied with the Treasury Strategy.

The report also noted that the returns on investment were marginally short of the benchmark (-0.03%), achieving a return of 4.87%.

Financial Monitoring Period 2

The Cabinet were scheduled to receive the Financial Monitoring Report for Period 2 of 2025/26. The report provided an overview of the council's financial position, including forecast outturn, savings performance, and the general fund balance.

The report highlighted that the financial position of the council remained highly challenging, with a forecast outturn position as at 31 March 2026 of £13.174m overspend. The report also noted that this situation was driven by projected under-delivery of in-year savings by £28.439m.

The Cabinet were asked to ensure that necessary action was taken to improve the Period 2 forecast, and to note that the projected General Fund Balance would be £0.606m if no further action were taken.

Transfer of Coroner's Officers

The Cabinet were scheduled to consider the transfer of the management of the six (5 FTE) Coroner's Officers from West Mercia Police to Shropshire Council, with a target date of 1st October 2025.

The report noted that West Mercia Police had decided to cease supporting these roles as they were not considered to be core policing functions.

The Cabinet were asked to authorise the transfer of the management of the Coroner's Officers, and to authorise the Service Director – Legal and Governance, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Health and Public Protection, to agree the detail of the transfer.