Agenda item

To receive a report which asks the Adults and Health Committee to provide feedback, as consultees, on the development of the Cheshire East Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2026/27 to 2029/30. Feedback is requested in relation to the responsibilities of the Committee.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2025/26.

Members were updated that the report showed the current MTFS, with a forecast budget gap of £18.2 million for 2026 / 2027, which assumed the delivery of £27m of council-wide transformation savings, and delivery of all the savings within services including the 5% vacancy rate. Members were updated around the work which had been carried out to calculate the demographic growth in the MTFS. However, there were several additional pressures, such as the council tax base, NHS pressures, EHCP numbers, and returning self-funders which could impact on the budget. The government’s autumn statement and the provisional local government finance settlement in December 2025, would also impact on the development of the MTFS.

It was noted that the council would be required to change details in reports as a result of the different ways in which government grants were allocated, with grants such as the market sustainability and investment fund now being part of the revenue support grant and no longer a ringfenced grant within the service. It was noted that, regarding pay inflation, going forwards the budgets would be allocated to the service areas after the agreed levels had been confirmed in order to reduce the amount of variance in the budgets.  Members were updated that services were working to ensure that business cases were implemented and were confident in the figures at this point in time but that the MTFS would continue to flex as its developed between now and February 2025.

Members were updated that client contributions were based on reflecting what had been seen in earlier reporting periods, and that the council had some social care users who pay the full cost of their care needs, so if the cost of their care increased, then they would see an increase in the amount which they would pay. It was noted that the impact of the government budget would be monitored and factored into calculations, and there was a lot of complexity when it came to calculating costs related to pensions, benefits and the Better Care Fund.

It was noted that when an individual funded their own care via assets or capital, a judgement would be made on how long this might be sustainable for, and for what minimum amount of time. When an individual began to run out of funds, or had run out of funds, the council would assess the current care level to check that it was appropriate; the council could then make a judgement on how their care was best provided. If users were commissioning a level of care which was above best value, the council would require the individual to either move to an appropriate home, or for their family to contribute top-ups to the contributions to allow them to stay in their current residence. It was noted that the adult social care transformation work stream worked with self-funders from the earliest stage possible to make ensure that they didn’t “over commission” care for themselves and ensure that they only paid for an appropriate amount of care. It was noted that there were also a large number of people who could not work, and not of pensionable age, who required extremely complex and expensive care.

It was noted that the adult social care capital programme was currently small, but the council was progressing an accommodation strategy to make a judgement as to where it was more cost effective for the local authority or external providers to provide the care, which may affect the capital programme going forwards.

RESOLVED:

That the Adults and Health Committee:

1. Note the updated budget position for the period 2026/27 to 2029/30 as set out in Table 3.

2. Scrutinise and feedback on the list of Adults and Health budget savings proposals that are contained in the budget consultation launched in November 2025 as contained in Annex 1.

3. Note the conditions for successful budget delivery, as approved by Corporate Policy Committee on 30 October 2025, which were set out in paragraph 11.