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Transformation and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Monday, 1st December, 2025 10.00 am
December 1, 2025 View on council websiteSummary
The Transformation and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to meet to discuss the council's fees and charges pricing policy, receive an update on the progress of the development of the Improvement Plan, and receive an update on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations made by the Staff Bullying and Harassment Task and Finish Group. The committee was also scheduled to scrutinise financial performance at Period 7 and consider proposals for the committee's work programme for 2025 – 2026.
Fees and Charges Pricing Policy
The committee was scheduled to review and understand the organisation-wide framework for setting, reviewing, and managing all council fees and charges. The report pack included a Fees and Charges Pricing Policy, which stated that it would help ensure effective and consistent management of discretionary service charges across the council, supporting financial stability and sustainability aligned to council priorities.
The policy's core objective was to move towards full cost recovery1 as the default position for discretionary services, enhancing the financial sustainability of services in the context of the declared financial emergency from September 2025.
The policy included consistent principles:
- Cost Recovery as Default Users of discretionary services should normally pay the full cost of the service, unless a subsidy is approved for policy reasons.
- Transparency Charges and the reasons behind them should be clear to service users and decision-makers.
- Affordability and Accessibility Fees must not create unnecessary barriers, and concessions should be targeted to those who most need them.
- Consistency Similar services should be charged on the same basis across the Council.
- Regular Review All discretionary fees and charges should be reviewed at least annually, with changes linked to the budget cycle.
- Market Awareness Benchmarking against other councils and providers to ensure charges are competitive and justifiable.
- Legal Compliance All charges must be in line with statutory powers and restrictions.
- Value for Money Fees and charges should contribute to efficient, sustainable services.
The report pack stated that the standard assumption would be that all fees and charges would be increased in line with CPI2.
The report pack noted several risks, including:
- Public/political backlash
- Legal challenge
- Non-compliance across services
- Reduced accessibility/demand impact
- Impact on rural communities/market failure
The report pack also included an Equality, Social Inclusion and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA). The ESHIA stated that at the initial stocktake stage, the impacts were considered to be neutral to low negative for people in the protected characteristic groupings of age and disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
The report pack recommended that cabinet members consider the Fees and Charges Policy and recommend to the council the approval and adoption of the Fees and Charges Policy for 2026/27 and incorporation into the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and budget setting process in February 2026.
Improvement Plan
The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of the development of the Improvement Plan.
Staff Bullying and Harassment Task and Finish Group
The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations made by the Staff Bullying and Harassment Task and Finish Group.
Financial Monitoring Period 7
The committee was scheduled to scrutinise performance at Period 7 and identify issues that may require further investigation by an overview and scrutiny committee.
Work Programme
The committee was scheduled to consider proposals for the Committee's work programme 2025 – 2026. The high-level work programme included the following topics:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Annual Customer Feedback report
- Financial Monitoring Report Quarter 1 2025/26
- Performance Monitoring Report Quarter 1 2025/26
- Financial Monitoring Period 4
- CIL dispersion T&F Group
- Financial Monitoring Report Quarter 2 2025/26
- Performance Monitoring Report Quarter 2 2025/26
- Partnership Working T&F Group
- Fees and Charges Pricing Policy
- Financial Monitoring Period 7
- Improvement Plan
- Staff Bullying and Harassment
- Draft Financial Strategy 2025/26 - 2029/30
- Capital Strategy 2025/26 - Mid-Year Review
- Financial Monitoring Report Quarter 3 2025/26
- Performance Monitoring Report Quarter 3 2025/26
- Draft Financial Strategy 2025/26 - 2029/30
- Performance Monitoring Report Q4
The work programme also included other identified areas of interest from committee discussions, including topics for briefings:
- Budget Scrutiny Task and Finish Group
- North-West Relief Road
- Financial and Performance Monitoring of Adults and Children's services
- Use of consultants
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Full cost recovery is an accounting principle where the price of a product or service is set to cover all costs associated with its production and delivery, including direct costs, indirect costs, and overheads. ↩
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CPI is the Consumer Price Index, a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. ↩
Attendees
Topics
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Meeting Documents
Reports Pack
Additional Documents