There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2024 are agreed as an accurate record.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet considers the report and recommendations (attached in Appendix A) arising from the scrutiny review of Retrofitting in Merton

At the invitation of the Chair, the Chair of the task group Councillor Neaverson addressed the meeting, speaking on the report and thanking officers for facilitating and Councillors and visiting experts for their contributions to the task group. Councillor Neaverson spoke to give an overview of the recommendations.

The Chair thanked Councillor Neaverson and the members of the task group for their work and advised a response would be provided in due course.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet considered the report and recommendations (attached in Appendix A) arising from the scrutiny review of Retrofitting in Merton

RESOLVED:

A. Cabinet approved the proposal to implement a 1-year pilot of an employment brokerage, under the title ‘Employ Merton’.

B. Cabinet approves the budget allocation of £500,000, derived from the Strategic Priorities Reserve for this work.

The Leader of the Council presented the report, advising the proposal was a fifteen month initial pilot into a job brokerage scheme which would bring together skills and expertise within the Council and would bring benefits including building financial resilience and a local resilient workforce.

Cabinet Members then spoke in support of the scheme.

RESOLVED:

A. Cabinet approved the proposal to implement a 1-year pilot of an employment brokerage, under the title ‘Employ Merton’.

B. Cabinet approves the budget allocation of £500,000, derived from the Strategic Priorities Reserve for this work.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed the Borough of Sanctuary Strategy and Action Plan at Appendix A

B. That Cabinet agreed to use this document in Merton Council’s application to become a Borough of Sanctuary

The Cabinet Member for Civic Pride presented the report noting that a joint group had met monthly to inform the strategy and action plan and the steering group would continue to provide strategic direction.

At the invitation of the Chair, Tom Underwood, Merton Citizens addressed the meeting and spoke to the report, noting that it had been worked on since April 2023 and the action plan was a result of listening to local organisations and those seeking refugee or seeking asylum backgrounds and would be the start of work and plans going forward. Tom Underwood thanked officers and Councilors for their support.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed the Borough of Sanctuary Strategy and Action Plan at Appendix A

B. That Cabinet agreed to use this document in Merton Council’s application to become a Borough of Sanctuary

RESOLVED:

A.   That Cabinet delegated authority to the Executive Director for Adult Social Care, Integrated Care and Public Health in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care,:

• To negotiate and finalise the terms for the s75 Agreement for Better Care Funded Services between the Council and the SWL ICB

• To negotiate and finalise appropriate terms for any variations to the s75 Agreement for Better Care Funded Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care.

B. The Cabinet agreed to enter into a S75 agreement, retrospectively, covering the financial year 2023/24 (the first financial year of the current BCF Plan), in accordance with the Council’s constitution and in order for the 2023/24 s75 agreement to have legal sign off.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care presented the report, noting that this had previously been agreed in collaboration with health partners through the Health and Wellbeing Board, however clarification had recently been sought and following legal advice it had been confirmed that the Council’s Constitution required this to be agreed by Cabinet. The Cabinet Member gave an overview of the recommendations.

RESOLVED:

A.   That Cabinet delegated authority to the Executive Director for Adult Social Care, Integrated Care and Public Health in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care,:

• To negotiate and finalise the terms for the s75 Agreement for Better Care Funded Services between the Council and the SWL ICB

• To negotiate and finalise appropriate terms for any variations to the s75 Agreement for Better Care Funded Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care.

B. The Cabinet agreed to enter into a S75 agreement, retrospectively, covering the financial year 2023/24 (the first financial year of the current BCF Plan), in accordance with the Council’s constitution and in order for the 2023/24 s75 agreement to have legal sign off.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet noted the update on the Merton Treasury management activity during 2023-24 and details any difference in activity from the Treasury management strategy approved in March 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services presented the report noting that the report showed treasury funds continued to be well managed and actions taken fell within the CIPFA regulations and guidelines. Good income had been secured from investments of around £8m more than had been budgeted for which had been a helpful contribution for the revenue position. The Cabinet Member thanked officers for their work.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet noted the update on the Merton Treasury management activity during 2023-24 and details any difference in activity from the Treasury management strategy approved in March 2023.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the approach to rolling forward the MTFS for 2025-29

B. That Cabinet agreed the timetable for the Financial Management cycle 2025- 29 including the revenue budget 2025/26, the MTFS 2025-29 and the Capital Programme for 2025-29

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services presented the report which provided an update on the Budget for the next financial year and the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the next four financial years. The report set out the process to be folowed, noting that an initial set of revenue raising and savings proposals would be brought to the next months’ Cabinet meeting and initial proposals would be considered by Scrutiny in November, with the second round of scrutiny taking place in the new year.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the approach to rolling forward the MTFS for 2025-29

B. That Cabinet agreed the timetable for the Financial Management cycle 2025- 29 including the revenue budget 2025/26, the MTFS 2025-29 and the Capital Programme for 2025-29

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the financial reporting data for period 4 (July) relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance of £16.928m when corporate and funding items are included.

B. That Cabinet noted the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approved the proposed adjustments to the programme in Appendix 5b That Cabinet note the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approve the proposed adjustments in the Table below:

C. That Cabinet approved a revenue budget virement in Adult Social Care between heads of services to transfer budget from Meadowsweet to Learning Disabilities placements following the closure of Meadowsweet.

D. That Cabinet noted the revision of fees in relation to the client financial affairs service as outlined in appendix 7.

E. That Cabinet approved the draw down of £1,021,677 from the Children and Education grants reserve to the Children, Lifelong Learning and Families department’s revenue budgets for Early Years Family Hubs (£175,664), Early Years Supporting Families (£327,048) and Free School Meals Grant (£518,964).

F. That Cabinet approved the draw down of £583k from the Cost-of-Living reserve to the Innovation & Change directorate’s revenue budgets. The transfer includes underspends of £80,243 for the Cost-of-Living fund Tranche 1 and £502,494 from Tranche 2 from previous years both to be spent during 2024/25.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services presented the report noting that the projection was currently a significant adverse variance of £16.9m, largely as a result of signfiicant inflationary cost increases and a surge in demand for services in three key areas, those being Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care and provision of temporary accomodation. The Cabinet Member advised that all were working across the Council to take the necessary steps to control rising costs and to bring down the projected variance. The Cabinet Member gave an overview of the other recommendations within the report.

In response to questions and observations from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member responded that extensive deep dives were being undertaken with the areas that were overspending to understand the cost pressures and to investigate what could be done to alleviate these, noting that these were in challenging areas. Actions that could be taken across the Council were also being looked at.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the financial reporting data for period 4 (July) relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance of £16.928m when corporate and funding items are included.

B. That Cabinet noted the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approved the proposed adjustments to the programme in Appendix 5b That Cabinet note the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approve the proposed adjustments in the Table below:

C. That Cabinet approved a revenue budget virement in Adult Social Care between heads of services to transfer budget from Meadowsweet to Learning Disabilities placements following the closure of Meadowsweet.

D. That Cabinet noted the revision of fees in relation to the client financial affairs service as outlined in appendix 7.

E. That Cabinet approved the draw down of £1,021,677 from the Children and Education grants reserve to the Children, Lifelong Learning and Families department’s revenue budgets for Early Years Family Hubs (£175,664), Early Years Supporting Families (£327,048) and Free School Meals Grant (£518,964).

F. That Cabinet approved the draw down of £583k from the Cost-of-Living reserve to the Innovation & Change directorate’s revenue budgets. The transfer includes underspends of £80,243 for the Cost-of-Living fund Tranche 1 and £502,494 from Tranche 2 from previous years both to be spent during 2024/25.