Agenda item

1.       The report was introduced by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, Mr Peter Oakford, who highlighted the following key points:

a)    The draft revenue budget for 2025 / 2026 was balanced in principle, pending Cabinet endorsement and questions or comments received before budget day.

b)    Capital receipts for the financial year were positive and money generated from this had been utilised in other areas.

c)    The New Homes Grant had been extended for a further year, meaning that less would be taken from reserves.

d)    The Draft Capital Programme was prepared on the basis that only full funded projects were included in the programme. A separate schedule of potential projects which could be considered for inclusion in the programme once funding had been secured had also been created, however, the programme was based on the presumption of no further borrowing.

e)     The overall spending growth for the next year was £150 million; £80 million was applicable to Adult Social Care. A 3% increase to providers was planned, however, through incremental grants this had now increased to 4%. The increase resulted in a cost of £26 million to Kent County Council.

f)      There were £31 million of increased costs applicable to Adult Social Care next year and £11 million of increased demand. It was highlighted that 75% of funding came from Kent Taxpayers. It was anticipated that Council Tax needed to be increased by a further 5% which would bring an additional £55.7 million to the Council.

g)    Growth in funding from grants had increased by £30 million (net) however it was pointed out that the Council required significantly more funding to continue carry out their functions.

h)    Mr Oakford drew Members’ attention to the savings and income information contained in Item 2.5 of the report.

2.       Mr Watkins referred to paragraph 2.7 in the report and highlighted the following key points:

a)    Kent County Council agreed that the amount of £19 million (net) provided by central Government for care would be passported in Adult Social Care. £9 million of this fund was used to fill the budget gap for irretrievable savings.

b)    Mr Watkins explained to Members that 80% of all money spent in Adult Social Care (being over half of KCC’s entire budget) went towards commissioned providers and 20% was retain for in house services.

c)  Mr Watkins explained that, out of the remaining £10 million, £7.5 million had been allocated toward the additional 1% paid to care providers uplifted fee.

d)  A further £3 million had been allocated towards increasing the base budget. Between November 2024 and January 2025, the underlying demand for Kent County Adult Social Care services had increased by almost £3 million.

3.       In answer to comments and questions from comments and questions from Members, it was said that:

a)       Mr Watkins clarified that he was discussing the incremental difference from the Local Government finance settlement in December.  The total estimated spend had been increased to support vulnerable adults by almost £3 million.

b)       In relation to policy savings, Mr Watkins confirmed there were some legacy policy changes in the current budget.  Some of the full year effect following on from the policy change on Charging Changes (from earlier in the current financial year) will go into next year.

c)       The Community Wellbeing Service should make a considerable amount of savings, if it went ahead after public consultation.

d)       The Head of Finance (Policy, Planning and Strategy) Mr Dave Shipton, commented that the national amount for all authorities was originally announced as £600 million in the Autumn budget. This then increased by a further £80 million nationally in the policy statement, which was issued in advance of the settlement at the end of November 2024.  In the provisional settlement, the overall national amount increased by a further £200 million (totalling £880 million), to which Kent’s share equated to £20.1 million.

e)       Mr Shipton confirmed that the Council had submitted their response to the provisional settlement consultation, the deadline of which was the 15 January 2025, to confirm that they did not support the proposals for Adult Social Care.

f)        Mr Watkins drew Members’ attention to item 2.3 in the report and that transfer savings had been reduced by approximately £1.5 million, equating to an overall saving around £45 million. The Home Improvement Agency (linked with the Disabled Facilities Grant) change equated to around £300,000 of savings. The budget for this grant was confirmed to be around £25 million.

g)       Mr Watkins confirmed that some Districts were not spending the entirety of their Disabled Facilities Grant and therefore any reduction on the spend of the Home Improvement Agency, would be manageable. 

h)       In answer to a Member’s question, the Director of Integrated Commissioning, Mr Richard Ellis, explained that there would be a differential impact from District to District when reducing the Home Improvement Agency spend, however, in the grand scheme of things, the  total budget from the Disabled Facilities Grant was relatively small and whilst there were recognised constraints with how the Disabled Facilities Grant is accessed, this was outside the remit of Adult Social Care.

i)        Mr Smith explained the operation and adjustments of the forecasts for Adult Social Care and the reasons for difficulty in generating savings within the current midterm financial period to Members.

j)        Mr Shipton confirmed to Members that the Disabled Facilities Grant was a separate departmental grant from Health and Social Care and not part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.  He continued to explain that there would be a substantial increase of the grant throughout 2025 / 2026.

4.       RESOLVED Members:

a)       NOTED the update to administration’s draft revenue budget proposals.

b)       NOTED and COMMENTED on draft capital programme.

c)       PROPOSED to the Executive, any changes which should be made to the administration’s draft budget proposals related to the Cabinet Committee’s portfolio area before the final draft is considered by Cabinet on 30 January 2025 and presented to Full County Council on 13 February 2025.