Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Kaushik Banerjee with Councillor Peter Smallwood substituting, Councillor Gursharan Mand with Councillor Stuart Mathers substituting and Councillor Mohammed Islam with Councillor Sital Punja substituting. 

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting on 19 November 2025 be agreed.

It was confirmed that all items would be considered in Part I.

The Committee received an update on the Council’s  financial position, noting that the Month?7 forecast remained broadly consistent with Month?6. Officers outlined the context for the 2026/27 budget and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to 2028/29, highlighting significant demand pressures in adult social care, children’s services and homelessness, alongside cost increases exceeding inflation. The Council continued to experience financial pressures, with reserves fully utilised and funding levels remaining below those of comparable authorities. A 4.99% Council Tax increase was proposed, which would still leave the Borough among the lowest charging in Outer London. The 2026/27 budget included £22m of savings, rising to £30m by 2028/29, with £2.1m related to this Committee’s remit, while growth of nearly £70m was required to rebase budgets for unavoidable pressures. The capital programme had been substantially reduced to £229m over five years, with borrowing also significantly lowered. Officers confirmed that the Council could not balance the 2026/27 budget without Exceptional Financial Support (ESF) and was seeking £60m for the coming year, alongside further requests to restore reserves and address overspends, with future years also showing funding gaps that may require support. Risks identified included savings delivery, demand instability particularly in temporary accommodation and uncertainty around business rates following a major airport revaluation.

The Committee discussed the financial position in detail. Members referenced statements from London Councils regarding the severe pressures across London and the forecast multibillion?pound funding gap by 2027/28. Further information was requested on the operation of spending controls and officers reported strengthened processes, including senior sign?off for staffing, enhanced panels in adults’ and children’s services and a new system for temporary accommodation decisions. All non?contractual spend now required formal approval at multiple levels.

Members questioned the impact of rising demand particularly in children’s services, SEND transport, adult social care and homelessness on the Council’s ability to deliver statutory duties while making savings. Officers acknowledged the pressures and emphasised the need for stronger demand modelling and more granular weekly and monthly data to track caseloads and ensure residents were supported in the most appropriate and cost?effective settings. In response to a query on outsourcing the film office, officers confirmed this related to external management of filming activity, which generated income and formed part of wider procurement reviews of service delivery models.

Members also explored trends in service delivery and the role of digital investment. Officers highlighted examples where modelling informed decisions, such as past shifts between outsourcing and in house provision. Ongoing digital improvements, including a new website, automated systems to reduce manual processing and enhanced business intelligence tools for forecasting and monitoring spend were reported.

The Committee asked about recruitment controls and was assured that the new process for approving posts was now well?established and operating efficiently. In terms of savings within property services and resident services, officers confirmed that directorates had reviewed structures and working practices to identify achievable proposals while maintaining service delivery. Members raised concerns about energy costs and officers outlined ongoing work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

The Committee considered agenda items 5 and 6 together as they both related to financial performance.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee:

1. Noted the budget monitoring position as at October 2025 (Month 7) for the Council.
2. Noted the budget monitoring position as at October 2025 (Month 7) for the services within the remit of the Corporate Resources and Infrastructure Select Committee.

The six-month performance report for 2025/26 was presented to the Committee. Hillingdon’s performance was benchmarked against other local authorities using publicly available data and it was found that the Council maintained one of the lowest net expenditure levels in London despite unique operational pressures. Adult Social Care was delivered in a financially sustainable way, achieving a ‘Good’ CQC rating, while Resident Services and Children’s Services were recognised for strong value for money and high-quality outcomes. Challenges such as rough sleeping and non-decent homes were identified but significant investment and improvement programmes were reported. Overall, the Council’s performance management framework was shown to support accountability, transparency and continuous improvement for residents.

Questions were raised about the benchmarking practices used across service areas. Assurance was sought on the consistency of comparator groups, as different sets of boroughs appeared in different tables, with some including authorities such as Slough, Coventry and Peterborough while others did not. Clarification was requested on why benchmarking peers varied between metrics and directorates. It was noted that clearer explanations would be helpful and future reports would include annotations explaining the rationale for each benchmarking group.

Discussion then moved to the presentation of cost and performance information. It was commented that the resident services pack focused mainly on cost figures without showing how these translated into outcomes, such as the number of road repairs achieved for the level of spending. Officers noted that previous annual reports had included more detail on outputs, but feedback had indicated that these were too lengthy. It was confirmed that the annual report combined benchmarking and activity?based data and officers agreed that Members’ suggestions would be considered when designing future reports.

Members also asked whether performance reporting took account of internal trends as well as external comparisons. It was confirmed that extensive internal data was reviewed daily and monthly through business intelligence dashboards, service?level meetings and directorate leadership sessions. It was noted that around 190 automated dashboards were now in use and that work continued to strengthen staff capability in using data effectively. It was emphasised that efforts were ongoing to balance transparency, usability and the volume of information provided to both Members and residents.

RESOLVED: That the final comments relating to the Select Committee’s budget comments be delegated to the Democratic Services Officer in conjunction with the Chair (and in consultation with the Opposition Lead(s)).

RESOVLED: That the Forward Plan be noted.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme be noted.