The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee are scheduled to meet to discuss the council's financial position, and ways to reduce spending on agency staff. The committee will also review its work programme, action log and recommendations tracker.

Q1 2025/26 Finance Report

The committee will be presented with the Q1 2025/26 Finance Report, which contains a summary of the council's revenue and capital forecast for the financial year. The report covers:

• General Fund Revenue
• Transformation Infrastructure Fund
• Delivery Against the 2025/26 revenue saving targets
• Contingency Funding
• Reserve Funding
• Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Revenue
• Capital Programme General Fund and HRA
• Dedicated Schools Grant
• Asset Disposal, Divestment Programme and Capitalisation Direction

The report notes that the council set a general fund revenue expenditure budget of £240.7m for 2025/26, but required estimated exceptional financial support of £72.1m through a capitalisation direction¹. At quarter 1, the council is forecasting an underspend of £2.269m against its general fund revenue budget.

The council's Housing Revenue Account is forecasting a minor underspend of £0.495m against a budget of £63.2m. The General Fund Capital Programme is forecast to underspend by £8.027m against a revised budget of £101.208m. The HRA Capital Programme is forecast to underspend by £20.066m against a revised budget of £60.125m.

The council has achieved just under 50% of its asset disposal programme. At Qtr 1, disposals are estimated at £15.66m against a budget of £29.52m. A separate report of the council's divestment programme is planned for cabinet in November. At Qtr 1, divestment receipts are estimated at £45.2m against a budget of £6.2m.

The report also notes a number of immediate actions being taken, including:

• A review of the budget forecasting process
• A budget rebasing exercise
• A review of 2025/26 budget growth requirements
• A review of the council's current capital programme alongside the annual refresh process

The commissioner's comments in the report highlight that the projected outturn position for the Dedicated Schools Grant² is an in year overspend of £4.1m, predominantly driven by increased need and support for children with additional needs or special education needs and disabilities. The commissioner also notes that the General Fund and HRA capital programmes are forecasting underspends, primarily due to slippage, and that the council will need to investigate the underlying causes of slippage in the capital programme and implement action plans to improve project delivery.

Protocols to Reduce the Deployment of and Spend on Agency Workers

The committee will discuss protocols to reduce the deployment of, and spend on, agency workers. According to the report pack, between April and August 2025, the council spent £7.2m on agency workers, £0.3m more than in the same period in 2024. The projected spend on agency workers during this financial year, if it continues at the same level, is £17.2m, compared to £16.4m in 2024/25. The number of council employees has also risen from 2,341 to 2,402, an increase of 61.

Proposed short-term actions (August 2025 to December 2025) include:

• Reviewing assignments costing more than post budgets
• Offering temp to fixed-term contracts
• Reviewing resourcing plans
• Setting targets and accountability
• Defining the circumstances when engaging an agency worker is permitted and the duration of the contract
• Using Matrix³ to reduce costs
• Monitoring

Proposed medium-term actions (December 2025 to April 2026) include:

• Delivering a corporate resourcing plan
• Internal secondments and temporary promotion
• External secondments
• Commencing recruitment in a timely fashion
• Prompt implementation of restructures

Proposed long-term actions (April 2026 onwards) include:

• Implementation of a people strategy
• Development of a strategic workforce plan

The report pack states that the deployment of agency workers is reviewed by the Reorganisation and Resourcing (R&R) Panel to scrutinise delivery against approved timescales and evidence of value for money, with a report submitted to the Medium-Term Finance Strategy (MTFS) Board.

Work Programme, Action Log and Recommendations Tracker

The committee will review and discuss its work programme, action log and recommendations tracker. The work programme lists items that will be considered at future meetings. The action log lists actions that have been assigned to officers. The recommendations tracker lists recommendations that have been made by the committee.