Greenwich Council is facing a £10.4 million shortfall in its savings programme for the 2024/25 financial year, contributing to a £0.2 million General Fund overspend, according to a report discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Thursday 10 July 2025.
Of the £33.7 million in new savings agreed by the council in March 2024, a significant portion is now categorised as delayed or unachieved. The shortfall is broken down into three categories: savings deemed Not Possible,
those facing Delivery Issues,
and those experiencing Timing Issues.
The largest area of savings slippage is within Children's Services, with £3.9 million delayed due to timing issues. This affects several services, including the 'Provision of RBG housing for foster carers & high need children', 'Professional Development Centre Review', 'Parenting contract with third party providers', 'Supervised contact service contract with third party provider', 'Children's Centres - Reduction and Efficiencies', 'Create more residential provision', 'Spot Purchase Reduction (Parenting Support)', 'Increasing the number of children exiting care due to improved outcomes - expected surplus budget', and 'Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP) Writing'. Communities, Environment & Central faces £1.2 million in timing issues, £0.8 million in delivery issues, and £0.3 million deemed not possible. Health & Adult Social Care has £1.9 million delayed due to timing issues, £0.1 million due to delivery issues, and £0.4 million deemed not possible.
Several specific savings measures are not expected to be fully realised in 2024/25. These include:
- Health & Adult Services: £350,000 in external funding opportunities not secured.
- Communities, Environment & Central: £298,000 from a statutory review of Penalty Charge Notices, deemed not possible because increases can only be levied by the Secretary of State for Transport.
- Review of the Council's Library & Leisure Offer: Delayed due to VAT changes and ongoing contract negotiations, which are creating complexities in amending the contract. The revised timeline is not specified in the 2024-25 Savings Tracker.
- Optimising the use of the Woolwich Centre: Delayed in marketing floors 4 & 5. The delay in marketing floors 4 & 5 of the Woolwich Centre, as part of the 'Asset Review: optimise the use of the Woolwich Centre (Rethinking)' saving, means that the full saving will likely not be achieved in 2025/26, as any successful marketing will likely require a rent-free period.
- Reablement & social work decision making: Assumptions on which the original proposed savings figure was based have been reviewed, and consequently, this has been revised down to £0.7m.
- Children's Centres - Reduction and Efficiencies: Delays are due to pre-election periods impacting the required statutory consultation, with slippage into 2025/26. The specific plans to address the issues after the pre-election period are not detailed in the 2024-25 Savings Tracker.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the 2024-25 Savings Tracker and the Forward Plan at the meeting, which was chaired by Councillor Lauren Dingsdale (Chair of Overview and Scrutiny).
