The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on 17 September 2025, to discuss the closure of the K&C Oracle Programme, receive an update on the council's savings and transformation programme, and review the forward plan of key decisions. The committee also reviewed and agreed to its work programme for the municipal year 2025-26.

K&C Oracle Programme Closure

The committee reviewed the K&C Oracle Programme Closure Report, which provided an update on the implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for Human Resources, Payroll, Finance and Procurement. The Oracle system went live in April 2025, replacing the previous IBC (SAP) system provided by Hampshire County Council (HCC).

The report highlighted the successful implementation of the system, which was the result of a two-year project. It also provided details of the supporting Hypercare and Stabilisation phases, the final overall budget position, and lessons learned. The report noted that the project experienced challenges related to data extraction from the SAP system, which were more complex than initially anticipated.

The committee was asked to note the completion of the K&C Oracle project, review the content of the report, and make any recommendations to the Lead Member.

The K&C Oracle Programme Closure Report noted that a contract was being finalised with HCC for ongoing support to RBKC's business as usual (BAU) operational delivery for a Hypercare service, including an already agreed and defined scope, that is required to be provisioned with HCC for 12 months. The report stated:

RBKC have not had direct access to IBC SAP since 14 April 2025 and in the period now whilst contract is being negotiated any priority hypercare requests to HCC for information are required to be made in a controlled manner, via RBKC nominated officers, and these can only be actioned by the HCC SAP team, who have SAP administration and high privilege accounts.

The report also noted that RBKC had requested that a clone of the SAP On Premises database be taken on 15 April 2025, and that RBKC officers had recommended to HCC that they advise all other Partners since the Clone also includes a copy of their data.

Savings and Transformation Programme Update

The committee received an update on the council's Savings and Transformation Programme, which aims to address the financial challenges the council faces while maintaining its commitments to residents. The report outlined the significant financial challenge the council faces over the next four years due to the likely implications of the government's recent funding review¹.

The report highlighted the work the council has done, and is doing, to deliver savings and transformation at scale whilst maintaining the broader commitments the council has made. In 2024, the council began to take a more corporate, centralised approach to delivering savings across the council to ensure greater coordination and alignment and established a Savings and Transformation programme. The programme has supported the delivery of significant cross-cutting and departmental savings over the last few years, including a planned £16.3m for the current 2025/26 financial year.

The report noted that the impact of the government's Fair Funding Review is likely to mean a significant drop in the council's overall funding, meaning that the budget gap was significantly greater than previously been assumed. The council's response to the government consultation was submitted in August and strongly argues that the proposals disproportionately impact on inner London, and that any proposals that negatively impact on authorities should be phased over a much longer period of time to mitigate the impact.

The report stated that the scale of the financial challenge means the council will need to take a more radical approach to savings and transformation and challenge all areas to find additional savings for 2026/27, as well as considering all the financial levers that the council has its disposal. To support this, officers are developing a range of options for further savings and transformation in the short, medium and longer term, to ensure the council can respond flexibly to the scale of the financial challenge.

The committee was asked to consider the report and make recommendations to the Leadership Team, note the main areas of focus for the programme, progress made over the last year and next steps, and identify any suggestions for officers and elected members to consider when developing savings and transformation proposals.

Forward Plan of Key Decisions

The committee reviewed the Forward Plan of Key Decisions, which is a list of upcoming decisions that are likely to have a significant impact on the borough. The committee uses the forward plan to identify decisions that it may want to scrutinise in more detail.

The report presented the definitions of key decisions and the role of the Forward Plan in assisting scrutiny councillors in pre-decision scrutiny.

The committee was recommended to review the Forward Plan of Key Decisions and identify any to be scrutinised either by the Overview and Scrutiny or one of the select committees, or identify any Key Decisions for which further information is necessary to enable a decision to be made on whether further scrutiny involvement is required.

The committee requested information on the following key decisions:

• Supported Housing Strategy 2025-2030 KD1012061 - The draft supported housing strategy is presently being drawn up and the recommendations of the Hostel Working Group will be incorporated into the strategy.
• Approval of the Contract Award for the Medium to High Housing Service For Vulnerable Women and Men with Complex Needs KD1007803 - Governance was still awaiting information on this key decision.
• Response to the External Review of the Council's Resilience Functions KD10112406 - The Audit and Transparency Committee will consider the Council's response at its meeting on 26 January 2026.
• Variation for SEND Passenger Transport (Minibuses) Travel Care Services Framework for Vulnerable Children, Young People and Adults KD1212106 - The variation was originally scheduled for decision on 20 June 2025 but was temporarily paused to align with internal timelines across both RBKC and WCC.
• Procurement Strategy and Award in Connection with 4-year works contract to deliver Internal Refurbishment Works at Lancaster West Estate KD1010319 - Governance was previously informed that under contract standing orders, permission was required to go to market to tender.
• Council Housing, Lancaster West Estate, Barandon Walk, Hurstway Walk and Testerton Walk-Procurement of Mechanical and Electrical Works KD1012301 - Options on how to procure the mechanical and electrical works package were still being discussed and would be formalised within a Report for the works.
• Introduction of a Lane Rental Scheme KD1011880 - Officers are recommending an application and supporting documents between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026.
• Kensington Town Hall Car Park-Award of a Management Contract KD1012225 - This key decision relations to the approval of the Procurement Strategy and the subsequent Key Decision Award Report for the car park management provider only.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme

The committee discussed the work programme for the overview and scrutiny committee, the select committees and agreed it. The committee requested the Scrutiny Manager review and amend topics scheduled for the meeting taking place on 8 October 2025.

The committee agreed the amendment to the budget working group terms of reference.

The committee requested the Scrutiny Manager arrange for a briefing note on zero based budgeting² to be circulated to members.