Tower Hamlets Council's Overview & Scrutiny Committee has reviewed the council's financial position and performance, with adult social care pressures contributing to a £1.2 million saving at RICs and £1.5 million at Unluckily, as discussed in the Budget Monitoring Reports. The council remains financially healthy compared to other London boroughs, with close to £100 million in reserves.

Councillor Abulkashem Mohammed Helal questioned the reasons behind these savings and the entities managing the £2.4 million overspend across the HSC (Health and Social Care). Councillor Abu Talha Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Finance, Assets and Governance, explained that national pressures in adult social care mean the council has a statutory duty to provide care, and significant demand is driving overspends. Bridget Cameron, Interim Director for Commissioning, elaborated that adult social care is demand-led. So people come needing support. We have that duty to provide things, but and to provide, to meet needs. Richard Ennis, Interim Corporate Director for Resources, added that successive governments have struggled to resolve the funding issues in social care, and that the SEND budget deficit is a national concern.

Quarterly performance trend chart showing the percentage of strategic performance measures meeting or exceeding targets, with 'green' indicating improvement, 'red' indicating below target, and 'amber' indicating intermediate performance.
Quarterly performance trend chart showing the percentage of strategic performance measures meeting or exceeding targets, with 'green' indicating improvement, 'red' indicating below target, and 'amber' indicating intermediate performance.

Councillor Iqbal Hossain raised concerns about the growing deficit in the Dedicated School Grant (DSG), forecast to overspend by £21.7 million, and sought evidence of the SEND reform plan's impact. Steve Reddy, Corporate Director of Children's Services, acknowledged it as a national issue and highlighted the council's work with partners to promote mainstream school provision and invest in making schools adaptable for children with additional needs. Richard Ennis, Interim Corporate Director for Resources, reiterated that the SEND budget deficit is a national concern.

Departments are working on mitigations to address the overspend. Bridget Cameron outlined strategies such as commission services more effectively, negotiate better deals with the market, and review care packages to identify more cost-efficient approaches. She further stated that We've got a transformation program on looking at, um, all the care packages. So what we're looking at is going through each individual person. I mean, there's a lot, there's thousands of them. So we're looking at how we can target that review team to start to look at those care packages that are higher cost, higher need, and see if there's different ways that we can do them.

Bar chart showing performance measures for various London boroughs, with Tower Hamlets significantly exceeding the CIPFA average.
Bar chart showing performance measures for various London boroughs, with Tower Hamlets significantly exceeding the CIPFA average.

This review was discussed in the context of the council's Budget Monitoring Reports, available at Public reports pack 28th-Jul-2026 18.00 Overview Scrutiny Committee.pdf and the Agenda frontsheet 28th-Jul-2026 18.00 Overview Scrutiny Committee.pdf.