City of York Council Task and Finish Group Remit              May 2026

Corporate Scrutiny Committee (and People Scrutiny Committee)

Adult Social Care Financial Challenges Joint Task and Finish Group

Members: Cllrs Nicholls (Chair), Burton (Vice-Chair), Ayre, Moroney and Runciman

1. Summary and Rationale

The final report of the Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy Task and Finish Group, as agreed by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee in January 2026 and endorsed by Executive in March 2026, recommended the establishment of a standing Joint Task and Finish Group of the Corporate and People Scrutiny Committees to review the financial challenges within Adult Social Care on a regular basis. The Group’s report noted that approximately 40% of the Council’s budget is spent on Adult Services and that cost pressures on this service area continue to rise, while the Council remained one of the lowest funded local authorities and health economies in the country.

The Joint Task and Finish Group has now held an initial meeting, and in consultation with relevant officers and Executive Members has agreed the approach outlined below.

2. Aims and Objectives

The Group’s work will focus on three main areas:

i. Gaining a detailed understanding of the pressures on the Adult Social Care budget (e.g. demographic change etc).

ii. Exploring possible options/scope to address and reduce those pressures.

iii. Exploring how the budget is monitored and opportunities to improve this.

The Group will focus on finances rather than on quality and improvement of services as these issues will be scrutinised elsewhere (e.g. through updates to People Scrutiny Committee around improvement plan following CQC inspection).

3. Methods

Desk-based work and consultations with relevant officers and Executive Members. The next meeting of the Group will be a longer evidence-gathering session (focusing on how the budget is built, cost pressures, and benchmarking) to equip Members with necessary information and help identify further areas for investigation.  

4. Impact on Resources

The main impact on resources will be officer time, in particular, consultation with the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Integration, the Director/Assistant Director of Finance, and the Finance Manager for Adult Services.

The review is timely, relevant, and of public interest given ongoing financial challenges within Adult Social Care locally and nationally, and will complement the ongoing work of the Budget and MTFS Task and Finish Group across other aspects of the Council’s budget.

5. Proposed Timescale

It is proposed to present a draft report and recommendations to either the scheduled meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee (as lead ‘parent’ committee) on 9 November 2026, or 18 January 2027. Arrangements will be made to ensure appropriate reporting back to the nearest meeting of the People Scrutiny Committee (either 18 November 2026 or 20 January 2027).

Should the Group have any recommendations to make in respect of the current budget cycle, for these to be considered by the scheduled Budget Executive meeting in January 2027, at the very latest a report would need to be considered by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee at its scheduled meeting on 18 January 2027. Papers for this meeting will be published on 8 January 2027.