Agenda item

15.1     The Director of Adult Social Care and Health introduced the report which provided the latest update to the Committee in the current RPPR cycle. The report covered the latest assessment of the policy and financial position for the Council for 2023/24 and beyond, due to be considered at the next meeting of the Cabinet, including an initial assessment of the potential financial impact of the planned ASC charging reforms. The report also covered proposed use of the one-off £5.175m Services Grant for 2022/23, taking account of feedback from the Committee’s consideration of proposed use for the funding at its awayday earlier in September. The Director outlined that a prudent approach to use of the funding was being recommended to Cabinet; holding most of the funding in reserve given the particularly uncertain financial outlook for the Council. The exception was the recommendation to allocate £270k to activities to support recruitment and retention given the workforce challenges faced by all Departments. The Director noted that the proposal of introducing a Family Safeguarding model, which the Committee had been supportive of, was now also proposed to be taken forward on a longer term basis within the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

15.2     Following the Director’s introduction, the Committee asked questions and made comments on the following areas:

·                     Plan for Patients – a question was asked on whether the £500m fund Government had announced alongside the Plan for Patients would replace the funds lost from the cancelled National Insurance increase. The Director of Adult Social Care and Health responded that the fund was separate to funding for the charging reforms and the Department understood that it had been allocated to support the health system through the winter, particularly with facilitation of hospital discharges. The exact allocations for ESCC, the means of allocation (e.g. whether it will be allocated to the NHS or local authorities) and conditions for use were unknown.

·                     Market Sustainability Plan – the Committee asked if it would be possible to receive a copy of the Market Sustainability Plan once finalised and reviewed by the Department for Health. In response, the Director explained that the estimated impact of the Fair Cost of Care exercise was included within the report to Cabinet and would be talked through at a Whole Council Forum for councillors the following day. The Director confirmed the Committee could receive a copy of the Market Sustainability Plan, although the Director would need to take advice on whether this was done confidentially given the potential commercial implications for the market of the information included within it.

·                     Funding for future financial uncertainty – a question was asked on whether there was scope to reduce the proposed funding to be set aside for managing uncertainty following announcements in the Chancellor’s recent mini-budget statement, such as the cancellation of the planned National Insurance increase which ESCC would no longer need to budget for. The Chief Finance Officer responded that from a budget perspective, the reduction in employer National Insurance requirements was welcomed as the increase had added £1.3m to the 2023/24 budget. However, as an element of the one-off services grant was allocated to fund the employer National Insurance increase, there was an increased risk that the grant would be reduced, therefore having a net nil impact on the MTFP, or redistributed. The Chief Finance Officer therefore recommended that it was prudent for the funding to be held in reserve until the draft Local Government Finance Settlement was published, as ESCC was facing uncertainty around a number of funding streams.

·                     Projected deficit – clarity on the increase in the projected deficit figures included in the report was requested, and the Chief Finance Officer explained that £14.999m was the deficit to 2025/26 that had been projected at State of the County in July. Over the summer officers had updated modelling to take account of local changes and pressures, and this had increased the projected total budget deficit to £31.471m by 2025/26. Appendix 1 of the RPPR report to Cabinet provided the detail on the movements since July. A follow-up question to clarify the budget position in 2023/24 was asked and the Chief Finance Officer explained that the deficit for 2023/24 was projected to be £17.544m and that the table included in paragraph 3.3 of the RPPR report to Cabinet showed both the annual and cumulative projected deficit.

·                     Proposals to maximise recruitment and retention – a question was asked on what proportion of the proposed investment in activity to support recruitment and retention would be spent on retention. The Chief Finance Officer committed to follow up with a response. The Director of Adult Social Care and Health added for clarity that the investment proposed in the report was to be spent on addressing challenges with recruitment and retention of directly employed staff, and while there were recognised, significant challenges with recruitment and retention of care workers in the independent sector, addressing that was not the focus of this proposed investment. Separate work was underway to address this which included a range of activity including overseas recruitment. 

15.3     The Committee RESOLVED to request to see a copy of the Market Sustainability Plan when it was finalised and to request further information on the proportion of proposed investment on recruitment and retention that would be spent on retention.