Waltham Forest Council faced significant financial challenges in the 2024/25 financial year, with substantial overspends in adult and children's social care and temporary housing. These issues were highlighted in a report presented to the Budget Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday. The combined overspend for social care reached £15.182 million, while expenses for temporary accommodation exceeded the budget by £9.042 million.
The report, which reviewed the council's capital and revenue expenditure as of 31 March 2025, revealed an unfunded budget pressure of £24.458 million for service directorates. This represents an increase of £3.686 million compared to the Month 9 service position of £20.772 million, and a £6.095 million increase compared to the final outturn position for 2023/24 of £18.363 million.
According to the Public reports pack, the overspend in Adult Social Care is primarily due to care placements and packages for adults aged 18-64 and 65+. Children's Services saw overspends mainly in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Children's Social Care.
To address the overspending, a drawdown of £2.656 million has been made from the Budget Strategy Reserve. Strategic Directors are also exploring changes to service delivery to reduce demand and efficiently manage existing pressures. A new financial model for temporary accommodation is being commissioned and will be implemented in 2025/26.
The surge in temporary accommodation costs is attributed to a 45% increase in the number of households placed into temporary accommodation, reaching nearly 1,600 by March 2025. This figure represents an 80% increase compared to March 2023. All remaining Housing general fund reserves (£4.393m) have been utilised to mitigate the in-year position, but these reserves have now been exhausted. The Public reports pack implies that the council will no longer be able to rely on these reserves to cover overspending on temporary accommodation, though the projected impact on future housing initiatives and services is not explicitly stated.
The Budget Scrutiny Committee, chaired by Councillor Miriam Mirwitch, reviewed the report and its appendices, which included detailed narratives on revenue and capital outturns, reserves and provisions, and capital slippage and accelerations. The committee also reviewed action trackers and recommendations from previous meetings, as detailed in the Scrutiny Report.
The committee reviewed the Action Tracker and Recommendations Tracker from the previous meeting. The action tracker included items such as sharing the 31Ten review report (awaiting response), clarifying the profit from Sixty Bricks (completed with £1.09m returned to the council), clarifying the number of Sixty Bricks units purchased (awaiting response), responding to specific queries (completed), and sharing the fee model (completed). The recommendation tracker included ensuring mechanisms are in place to review value for money on a routine basis, comparing fees with local market rates, which officers agreed to take forward.
