The Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Hertfordshire Council convened for evidence-gathering sessions on Tuesday, 03 February 2026, to scrutinise the proposed budget for 2026/27 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy. The sessions covered Children's Social Care, Education, SEND and Inclusion, Highways, and Environment, Transport and Growth. Key discussions included the recruitment and retention of foster carers, support for care leavers, investment in SEND services, home-to-school transport, the sustainability of the high needs block deficit, and the management of highways infrastructure.

Children's Social Care

The committee discussed the budget for children's social care, focusing on foster care and support for care leavers. Councillor Anthony Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Children's Social Care, outlined the strategic direction of the service, which aims to provide children with the best start in life, keep them safe, and ensure stable homes for children in care and care leavers.

A £1.4 million increase in the foster carer budget was explained as funding for an uplift in allowances, comprising a Department for Education (DfE) uplift of 6.88% and a cost-of-living uplift of approximately 3%. This funding is specifically for allowances and school payments to foster carers, with separate budgets allocated for the NEST (nurture, empathy, trust, support) and emergency foster care initiatives.

Progress in recruiting foster carers was highlighted, with 34 approvals forecast for 2025-26, an increase from 21 the previous year. The NEST programme aims to reduce reliance on residential placements, while the emergency foster care project has successfully reunited 21 children with their birth families in the past 12 months and diverted 15 children from residential care into fostering arrangements, resulting in significant savings.

Support for care leavers was also a key topic. Rachel Adler, Director of Strategy and Performance for Children's Services, clarified that expenditure for care leavers is accounted for within the safeguarding budget line (£2 million for the staffing team) and the CLA and leaving care objective line (£1 million for direct support). Investment has increased, with the service expanding to four teams, including additional management capacity and dedicated education, employment, and training (EET) workers and mental health workers. This has contributed to an increase in care leavers in EET from around 50% to 60%.

The committee also raised concerns about the potential impact of agency staff usage and the need for continued focus on recruitment and retention of social workers, residential care workers, and educational psychologists. While Hertfordshire is performing better than statistical neighbours in terms of turnover, agency rates, and vacancy rates, the underlying causes of difficulty are identified as work-life balance, caseloads, salary, and career progression opportunities. The council is implementing a workforce development strategy, including a grow our own approach with apprenticeships and academies, alongside efforts to benchmark pay and reward.

Recommendations from the Children's Social Care session:

• Improve transparency of care leaver funding: The committee felt it was unclear how funding for care leavers was being managed and recommended greater transparency.
• Monitor foster carer recruitment and retention: Given the additional funding for foster carers, the committee recommended robust monitoring of recruitment and retention strategies.
• Continued focus on staffing recruitment and retention: The committee recommended a continued focus on strategies to recruit and retain staff across children's services.
• Detailed breakdown of investment for children looked after and disabled children: A request was made for a clearer breakdown of the £16 million investment, specifying numbers of children looked after, disabled children receiving services from the 0-25 service, and disabled children who are also looked after, to avoid double counting.

Education, SEND and Inclusion

The committee scrutinised the significant investment planned for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services, including staffing and specialist provision. Councillor Mark Watkin, Executive Member for Education, outlined a £6.3 million investment aimed at expanding the SEND workforce, including 30 additional EHC coordinators and 12 review officers. A further £2.3 million is allocated to school-based SEND services, and £1.36 million to the educational psychology service, increasing its capacity by 80%.

A significant portion of the SEND investment, approximately £1 million, is dedicated to supporting children missing education or educated otherwise than in school, including electively home-educated children with Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs). The council anticipates delivering 1,150 additional specialist places in mainstream and specialist schools through a £140 million investment programme.

Regarding waiting times for EHCPs, it was reported that there are currently no significant waits for new EHCPs, with only two children awaiting them outside statutory timescales. However, work is ongoing to improve the timeliness and quality of annual EHCP reviews, with 60% of timeliness and over 50% quality achieved. The primary challenge remains ensuring the right provision is available at the right time, with a focus on mainstream school inclusion and stepping up specialist provision for those who require it.

The committee also discussed home-to-school transport for SEND pupils. An additional £3.4 million uplift to the SEND home-to-school transport budget, representing a 9.3% increase, is planned to cover inflation and rising demand. The council is strongly encouraging the use of Personal Travel Budgets (PTBs), with uptake increasing significantly. For 16-18 year olds, PTBs will become the default option from September 2026, with a balanced and needs-led approach ensuring no child loses existing transport provision.

Concerns were raised about the high needs block deficit and its sustainability. It was noted that Hertfordshire is one of the worst-funded authorities for high needs, with demand and expenditure significantly outstripping grant funding. The council is actively lobbying for a more equitable system and focusing on mainstream inclusion and increasing in-house specialist provision to de-escalate costs. The projected deficit for the high needs block is substantial, with an estimated £89 million deficit for the current year and £90 million for the next. The government has indicated that responsibility for funding will shift to the DfE from April 2028, but the form and extent of this support remain uncertain.

Recommendations from the Education, SEND and Inclusion session:

• Detailed information on ESI savings: A request was made for more detailed information on the proposed efficiencies across wider services (ESI savings).
• Internal fleet for home-to-school transport: The committee recommended exploring the potential for increasing the size of the internal fleet to maximise additional efficiencies in home-to-school transport costs.
• Capital programme for school maintenance: Further detail was requested on the capital programme for school maintenance, particularly regarding the phasing of works and the underspend of grant funding.
• Impact of government reforms on the high needs block: Given the expected government reforms, the committee recommended an appendix to the budget outlining the projected impact on the council, particularly concerning the high needs block sustainability.
• Information on wider savings: A request was made for more context on wider savings, specifically referencing S105.
• Hertfordshire Music Service funding: Reassurance was sought regarding the robustness of funding for the Hertfordshire Music Service, particularly concerning the reliance on time-limited external grants.

Highways

The committee scrutinised the Highways budget, focusing on the Highways Locality Budget (HLB), inflation, winter maintenance, structural maintenance, and street lighting.

The HLB is set to increase by £5,000 to £95,000, which is acknowledged as not keeping pace with inflation. However, members are protected from inflation increases on agreed schemes during the financial year. The council is exploring batching purchasing power for items like bollards and white lining to mitigate the impact of rising material costs. A £1.5 million addition has been made to the highways budget for inflation, calculated using a construction-specific index (Path E4) rather than CPI or RCI.

Regarding winter and routine maintenance, the council has quality controls in place with contractors and audits 20-30% of jobs monthly, with a 96% pass rate for the main Ringway contract. A £700,000 allocation (with a push to increase to £1 million) is earmarked for road mender to address potholes on concrete sub-base roads that previously did not meet the criteria for repair. The council aims to manage budget pressures within the highways budget by deferring less urgent schemes, but extreme weather events may necessitate drawing on a central contingency.

The integrated works programme for the next financial year includes 1,069 schemes with a budget of £107 million for maintenance and transport infrastructure, covering 3,200 miles of roads and 3,500 miles of pavement. This is described as planned work to maintain the network, rather than an outstanding backlog. However, concerns were raised about the potential for delays in street lighting repairs due to parts availability and the need for bespoke suppliers.

The grass cutting budget has seen a reduction, which was met with disappointment. While acknowledging the need for savings, the council will monitor the impact and has retained funding for visibility cuts. The budget for bridge asset management and maintenance remains flat, with a prioritization of road maintenance, though the council maintains it will continue to maintain bridge assets.

The income from fines and permits under the New Roads and Street Works Act (NRswa) is projected to increase due to a rise in fees and more robust enforcement, rather than an anticipated increase in roadworks. The council is also exploring the use of internal fleet for transport and has a £1.4 million allocation for bridge maintenance, with a focus on working smarter to make money go further.

Recommendations from the Highways session:

• Clarification on street lighting modernization: Further clarification is requested on the modernization scheme for street lighting, including timelines for delivery, prioritization, and the deliverability of the £4.5 million budget.
• Winter maintenance deliverability and prioritization: More detail is needed on the deliverability of the winter maintenance budget and how prioritization will occur if pressures arise.
• Contingency allocation for highways: An understanding of how much of the £10 million contingency is allocated to highways and how the HLB uplift is determined, including the makeup and rationale for the figures, is requested.
• Grass cutting budget: Regret was expressed regarding the reduction in the grass cutting budget.
• Inflationary risks for highways programme: Concern was raised about the vulnerability of the planned highways programme to inflation in construction materials, particularly oil prices, and the need for adequate downside planning.

Environment, Transport and Growth

The committee examined the budget for Environment, Transport, and Growth, with a focus on active travel, waste management, and sustainable transport.

Regarding the active travel fund, an additional £1.5 million is allocated to extend 20 mph zones, aiming to deliver nearly 200 schemes. While ambitious, officers expressed confidence in its deliverability, noting lessons learned from previous programmes that involved more extensive physical traffic calming measures. The current approach aims to minimise physical intervention, speeding up the process. Further detail on scheme timelines, extra resources, and lessons learned has been requested.

The council is using the active travel fund to develop new cycling schemes by prioritising areas identified in Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). While there isn't a pool of shovel-ready schemes, there are developed ideas that are being progressed to ensure they are deliverable and can be quickly implemented if funding becomes available. The LCWIP process is also being used to leverage Section 106 contributions from developers for active travel infrastructure.

The cost and complexity of managing aging transport infrastructure were discussed, with an emphasis on coordinating strategic transport planning across portfolios to support active travel and avoid unfunded liabilities. Community engagement is being used to identify interventions, with efforts to improve and enhance engagement methods, including online tools and working with local councillors and districts. A budget of £200,000 is allocated to the school travel planning team to encourage active travel among pupils. New developments are required to incorporate active travel infrastructure from the outset, guided by the Place and Movement Planning Design Guide.

In waste management, significant investments have been made in facilities like the Eastern Waste Transfer Station, with an assumption that savings will absorb inflationary pressures. While the service is largely demand-led, historical data suggests a good track record of staying within budget. Risks are primarily associated with seasonality, but the council is proactively modelling and tracking waste levels. The potential impact of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2028 poses a significant risk, with an estimated £7-7.5 million annual pressure. Mitigation efforts include lobbying, promoting waste reduction at the source, and exploring carbon capture technologies. The council is also working with the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership to manage these costs.

Regarding sustainable travel, the Bus Improvement Plan (BIP) is delivering improvements through enhanced ticketing and fares, increased service frequency, and physical infrastructure upgrades like bus gates and improved bus interchanges. Public engagement with users and bus operators is ongoing to shape future schemes. Additional funding is being invested in the Hearts Links fleet to expand demand-responsive transport services, making them more responsive to user demand and potentially informing the development of scheduled routes.

Recommendations from the Environment, Transport and Growth session:

• Active Travel Fund detail: A report is recommended to provide more detail on lessons learned from previous active travel schemes, project timelines, risks, success monitoring, and how changes in speed management strategy will expedite delivery.
• Community education and awareness: An intervention to ask school children to create videos for a small prize to educate the wider community on active travel schemes is suggested. Information is also requested on specific communities where engagement is challenging and whether this is due to active communities rather than engagement difficulties.
• Waste management responsibility: A recommendation for greater responsibility and future planning from current councils regarding waste management, rather than deferring specifics to future unitary authorities, was made.
• Demand-responsive travel (Hearts Links): A survey is recommended to assess the potential for additional stops on existing Hearts Links routes that pass through villages.
• Internal fleet for transport: Further exploration into the potential for increasing the size of the internal fleet to maximise additional efficiencies in transport costs was recommended.
• Highways programme inflation: Concern was raised about the vulnerability of the planned highways programme to inflation in construction materials, and the need for adequate downside planning.

The committee also noted that the budget papers lacked clarity on the phasing of the capital programme for school maintenance and that the council's approach to waste management and sustainable travel is largely demand-led.

The evidence-gathering sessions concluded with a summary of discussions and the identification of potential recommendations, which will be further refined and presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 February 2026 for ratification.