To consider the Budget Monitoring Report for Quarter 2 2025/2026and make recommendations to the Cabinet.

The Board considered the submitted report which provided a high-level summary of the Council’s Revenue and Capital Budgets for the 2025/2026 Financial Year.  The forecasts were based on information at the end of Quarter 2 and showed a predicted overspend of £1.223m, by the end of the year, which was an increase of £238k on the position projected at Quarter 1, and mainly due to children’s placements and legal services staffing.  There was a revised forecast of the Capital Investment Plan of £101.756m for the period up to 2027/28 with £79.730m planned spend for 2025/26.

Members raised the following questions:

·         What action was being taken by Officers within Children’s Services to address the ongoing overspends in Children’s Services?

·         Was it the intention for the current children who were in care placements with the highest costs to be placed within the proposed children’s home to be created in Torbay?

·         What were the reasons for the increased costs arising for several children placements?  Was it due to complexity of the individual’s care needs or was it the cost of the individual placements?

·         When a child reaches the age of 18 and requires ongoing assistance with accommodation and care needs, what budget would these costs be allocated from?

·         Has the Council identified any locations within Torbay for the proposed children’s homes?

·         Was the process easy to relocate children when allocated a care placement to a new location?

·         What action was being taken to address the ongoing overspends in Legal Services?

The following responses were received:

·         Torbay Council was currently reviewing the option to introduce a children’s home within Torbay.  Conversations were being held with the relevant organisations to identify how quickly buildings could be registered to ensure that the homes were suitable for children to be placed with the most complex needs.

·         The individual needs of each child would need to be reviewed to ensure that the relevant placement could provide the needs of the individual child.

·         Due to children’s needs being increasingly complex and changing, these factors affect what provider could be used to manage each child’s needs.  If Torbay Council does introduce children’s homes within Torbay, the homes would be managed by Torbay Council employed staff who would be trained to manage various complex and changing needs of the children and young people.

·         When a care-experienced young person reaches the age of 18 and if they required continued care and support, then the cost of this support would be allocated from Children’s Services budget and the cost of accommodation would be allocated from within the Adult Services budget.  If the young person, was not care-experienced, then the total cost would be allocated from the Adult Services budget.

·         Torbay Council Officers have identified a potential location for a children’s home which was being investigated.  Further locations have been identified by a local provider who may progress these locations through Planning to be used as additional children’s homes. 

·         The Director of Children’s Services explained that Officers always review the needs of those children under the care of Torbay Council who were in placements located within children's homes out of Torbay, to identify if they could be transferred to a foster care environment, ensuring the importance of the individual child’s needs and if the location would be correct for them.

·         The level of overspend in Legal Services had reduced from the amount reported at the end of Quarter 1.  The issue of recruitment into the available positions within Legal Services was an ongoing issue.  Agency staff were continuing to be used to temporary fill the roles to ensure continuity of the service. 

Resolved (unanimously)

That the Overview and Scrutiny Board note the forecasted revenue outturn position and amendments made to the published 2025/26 Capital Investment Plan.