The Resources and Performance Cabinet Panel met to discuss the council's financial performance, future plans for adult care services in Stevenage, and performance monitoring reports. The panel unanimously recommended that the cabinet approve the use of £15.7 million of contingency funds, the approval of £19.3 million of carry-forward requests, the release of £5.6 million of reserves, the creation of a £3 million children's social care reform reserve, the total contribution of £5.7 million to the invest to transform reserve, and capital re-programming of £25.7 million. The panel also recommended that the cabinet agree to appropriate land at Pin Green, Stevenage, for a new adult day care centre.

Finance Budget Monitor - Outturn 2024/25

Stephen Pillsworth, the Director of Finance, presented the council's financial position for the last financial year, noting an underspend of £3.1 million against a budget of £1.1 billion. This underspend was achieved despite significant demand and cost pressures in social services, particularly social care, and included the successful delivery of over 90% of a £46 million savings programme.

Other key points:

• Requests for funding to be carried forward into the next year were lower than in previous years, with most of it linked to external funding grants from the government for specific purposes.
• A review of the council's reserve position allowed for the creation of a reserve for work on children's social care and to top up the Investor Transform Reserve.
• There was an overspend of £30 million on the high needs block[^1] due to inadequate government funding to meet the levels of demand being faced. [^1]: High Needs Block: part of the dedicated schools grant that covers education provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SCND).
• The council is essentially borrowing to fund this gap, with interest needing to be covered on that borrowing, meaning there is funding that is not available for other council services.
• A statutory override is in place that allows the deficit to be ignored for accounting purposes, but there is no particular way forward from government on that.

Savings Programme

Councillor Mark Biddle asked for a breakdown of who is using and eligible for taxis, as part of the Adult Social Care (ACS) transport savings programme. Stephen Pillsworth confirmed that taxis would only be used where there is a need for that individual, and that is the only way of transporting them, particularly given their needs or their level of disability. He added that they always look at whether there are any other options, either through alternative transport provision, through supporting greater independence, those individuals being able to take different transport routes, even through to public transport.

Councillor Tim Williams asked about the organisational resourcing project, which had under-delivered savings in the previous year due to delays in consultations. Stephen Pillsworth confirmed that all of the proposals now achieve the £16 million of savings, which is factored into the current year's budget.

Councillor Tim Williams also raised concerns about future budget pressures due to the government's proposals on the fair funding review¹. Stephen Pillsworth said that early indications are that within three years the council could have somewhere between £45 and £55 million less grant per annum, which is significantly worse than initial expectations. He added that the council needs to lobby government to understand the implications of that on councils such as Hertfordshire and others who are adversely affected. Councillor Alexander Curtis raised concerns about the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and the schools budget, in particular the high needs funding, and asked what is planned in terms of getting this under control. Scott Connington, the Deputy Chiefs Executive, said that the issues are of major concern for the authority and the sector more widely, and that the solution of a statutory override is just parking and ignoring the problem at the moment and is not a long-term solution. Stephen Pillsworth added that it is government who will need to solve this and solve it nationally, and that the funding is woefully inadequate for the level of demand there is out there and it will need that national solution.

Councillor John Graham congratulated the officers for the work they've done in delivering the outturn for the budget, and asked for clarification on whether the savings figures for future years are a continuation of existing savings, or brand new figures. Stephen Pillsworth confirmed that the savings figures are re-based each year, and that a fully refreshed savings program is in place.

Councillor Richard Roberts reiterated what an incredible effort it was to meet not only the £42 million pound savings was set in the budget, but an extra £10 million on top of that in order to bring those in year overspend under control. He also raised concerns about the high needs block, and the government pushing the SEND report review into the long grass.

Councillor Penelope Hill asked about the improvement and capital maintenance of schools, and the request to reprogram a certain sum of money because of delays to the projects, meaning that it has to be retendered. She wanted to understand what the additional costs are for that retendering and why those projects slipped that they therefore required retendering. Stephen Pillsworth said that there wouldn't be a cost other than officer time of actually doing that tendering process, but that he wouldn't know whether actually the cost of those schemes differs under the new contractual arrangements as it did from the previous ones.

Councillor Ian Albert asked for a list of where the council's investments are held, and what work has been done to achieve the £2.6 million underspend on home to school transport. Stephen Pillsworth said that more detailed information is reported to audit committee, and that he would circulate that to members of the resources and performance panel. He added that the underspend on home to school transport was due to route planning, extra support where a child might be able to share a taxi rather than being the sole occupant, and increasing the amount of funding provided to parents, a personal travel budget around that.

Appropriation of Former Playing Field, Pin Green, Stevenage for Adult Care Services

The panel discussed the appropriation of part of the former Pin Green playing field in Stevenage from children's services to adult care services for the provision of a new day centre.

Stuart Paskin, the Strategic Assets and Estates Manager, presented the item, explaining that the site is circa 2.7 acres and closed in August 2005. He added that as the site has not been used as a playing field in the last eight to 10 years, it does not require Secretary of State consent. The day centre part of the site is just over 1.5 acres, and planning for this part of the site was approved in March 2025 for the provision of an adult care service day centre under planning use class E². The estimated value for this portion of the site is circa £1.15 million. He also noted that in October 2022, Cabinet authorised the re-provision of Leyden House, Stevenage Day Centre and a capital budget for development of a new scheme in Pin Green, and that Leyden House is considered unsuitable in its current state for long-term provision of a day centre and the re-provision and modernisation is required.

Councillor Penelope Hill asked what the current usage of the site actually is, and whether the community are aware that that will change if they are currently using it. Stuart Paskin confirmed that the site is currently vacant, and that there is no public footpath which goes through the site.

Councillor John Graham asked for clarification on a transaction in July 2025 that was mentioned in the presentation, and whether any money would change hands. Stuart Paskin confirmed that it is an internal transfer, and that no money would change hands.

Councillor Richard Roberts said that Layden House is well past its sell by date, and that he welcomed the transfer of the day services to Pin Green, but also recognised that Layden House freeing that up on Gunnerswood Road is a great regeneration opportunity for Stevenage.

Hertfordshire County Council Performance Monitor, Q4, 2024-2025

Parikh Mekana, the Head of Corporate Performance and Business Insight, presented the quarter four performance report, highlighting that the quarter reflected a strong performance across the council and set against a backdrop of increasing demand.

Key points:

• The council benchmarks second out of 31 authorities.
• Adult care services have seen increasing levels of referrals and demand, 20% higher than pre-COVID levels.
• Children's services are still experiencing the impacts of COVID on children and young people, with increasing levels of contacts and referrals into the service compared with pre-COVID.
• The service did not manage to reach that interim assessment milestone of making sure that 60% of completed assessments are completed within time.
• The cumulative trend of headcount across the council had increased following COVID, but is now showing a downward trajectory.

Councillor Richard Roberts said that the council has been judged independently between 2022 and 2024, and no other council in the country has a better performance than Hertfordshire. He also noted that the figures lay bare the challenges of meeting the performance criteria of SEND, and that the government have just pushed in the SEND report review into the long grass. He added that the decrease in the number of foster carers is a worrying sign, and that there needs to be a redoubling of efforts to bring the next generation of foster carers through.

Councillor Chris Lucas, the Executive member for Resources and Performance, said that the SEND Summit is not just a talking shop with parents, but a summit which will be bringing thought leaders from both local and national and international expertise in this field to Hertfordshire County Council to advise as to how we're going to grasp the nettle that you're quite likely to have identified as an issue that is going to face all of us in the near future.

Councillor Mark Biddle raised concerns about the risk of separated migrant children and the potential additional pressures on children's services. Scott Connington said that the council has a contingency sum within its budget of £10 million to deal with unforeseen events, and that they would always seek support from government grant or government support or government grant to be able to deal with where Hertfordshire is asked to provide support in relation to illegal migration.

Councillor John Graham thanked Parikh Mekana for all the work he does on the report, and said that it has been his experience that the officers have been very honest in allowing this report to come forward in all its factual situation, even when some of the figures may not have been as positive as perhaps they'd have liked them to be. He also reiterated the point that Councillor Roberts made on fostering, and that it is disappointing to see that the number of foster carers in the last quarter is down by 25.

Councillor Alexander Curtis said that he agreed with what has already been said by Councillors Graham and Roberts, and that there was a good call to performance under the previous administration. He added that we need to find the cheapest possible way to be doing things, and that he really urged the panel to work with their cabinet colleagues to go through all of the difficult areas in their portfolios and think, is there a different way we can do this? Is there a cheaper way we can do that?

Councillor Ian Albert asked whether the SEND figures would be expected to pick up in the next quarter, and whether there was something particularly different happening in terms of clearance and backlog. He also asked what the new administration is looking to do in terms of maybe changing either the format style quantity of the report. Councillor Chris Lucas said that he would be guided by members of the panel if they feel that there are gaps or things that are missing from the report that they wish to see in the report but that haven't been there to date, then he would most definitely be guided to include those.

Councillor Penelope Hill asked whether the panel could see the breakdown behind the health and safety figures, and specifically could they break out education in of itself as a category whether that be violence or accidents. She also said that she would like to see how the breakdown is of those straightforward subject access requests that get in 30 days versus those slightly longer ones that we the 90 days for.

Councillor Saul Jacob asked for a cost analysis with regards to the costs of asylum seekers and any related matters with regards to costs, and how much the county is owed. Scott Connington said that it'll be all part of the same analysis, but we'll highlight, highlight the particular part that you've asked for as well. Stephen Pillsworth added that within Appendix E of the report there is a summary of exactly where we are on debt management, and that currently, £75 million is owed to the council.

Hertfordshire County Council Resources & Performance Monitor – Quarter 4 (Q4), 2024-25

Parikh Mekana presented the Hertfordshire County Council Resources & Performance Monitor – Quarter 4 (Q4), 2024-25, noting that the report is a snapshot looking at around 18 metrics with some updates commentary updates assigned to them and a RAG³ status as well applied to them. He noted that there is an amber RAG against subject access requests, and that the chart on page 217 shows the challenges that that service has faced information governance, and also the progress that has been made in reducing the number of outstanding requests down to around 150. He also noted the need to maintain an eye on employee health and safety incidents which have gone up in the recent quarter and which have been closely monitored by that service as well.

Councillor Ian Albert asked whether the uptick in health and safety incidents might have been influenced in some slightly different ways because of working at home. Scott Connington said that the other area that the council has been looking at beyond the obviously the schools may themselves have done quite a push to make sure that all of the incidents are being properly reported, and that he thought there was a sense from some of my education colleagues that maybe that even that number may be underreported where maybe teachers just think it's part of the job or whatever the case may be.

Councillor Mark Biddle said that it is of great concern of the increase of violence in the health and safety and there needs to be more focus to counter this issues at source.

Councillor Richard Roberts said that he agreed with Councillor Albert that it is turning into a proper debate, and that he was just picking up on the assertion that immigration isn't an issue. He added that there are currently 14 reform MPs who had immigration at the front and centre, sorry, reform councillors, county councillors in the county, and that has completely changed the political landscape, not just in Hertfordshire, but in the country.

Councillor Penelope Hill asked whether the panel could actually see the breakdown behind that figure, and specifically could we break out education in of itself as a category whether that be violence or accidents. She also said that she would just like to sort of say that we need to I think actually think about what the role of an SAR is and actually be advocating for perhaps a longer time frame.

Councillor Saul Jacob said that the point that Councillor Biddle was making with regards to health and safety and the issues of violence and was really directed for the one or two of the officers to comment on whether it's a general comment or more specific that'd be welcome. Scott Connington said that from the council's perspective there is a range of activity that we are taking to ensure that we try to ensure that all help sort of feel safe and protected whilst they're working at the council, and that the most important thing for us is is making sure that we've got and we encourage the reporting of all incidences ranging from both near misses and and actual incidences so we can make sure that we're doing learning undertaking the relevant learning if we need to adjust our processes procedures or the levels of safety that needs to be put in place for for our staff.