|
Meeting: |
Executive |
|
Meeting date: |
4 November 2025 |
|
Report of: |
Debbie Mitchell, Director of Finance |
|
Portfolio of: |
Councillor Katie Lomas, Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality and Inclusion |
Quarter Two 2025/26 –
Finance and Performance Monitor
Subject of
Report
2. The report outlines that, despite the Council’s continued financial challenges, performance continues to be good in across many areas of the Council.
3. The forecast for the year is that we will have a net overspend of £6.2m, which is a worsening position than reported at Monitor 1. The main area of overspend continues to be Adult Social Care, where increased costs and complexity remains a very challenging position.
4. As outlined in reports to Executive throughout the previous financial year, the existing cost control measures remain in place, and further action is still needed to bring spending down to an affordable level over the medium term, to safeguard the Council’s financial resilience and stability. The Council’s track record of delivering savings, along with robust financial management, provides a sound platform to continue to be able to deal with both the current and future challenges.
5. Across Adult Social Care a prioritised action plan detailing new mitigations has been prepared with a requirement to reduce expenditure with the express requirement to reduce the projected overspend.
6. The Council implemented a garden waste subscription scheme in August 2024 and has operated a full year service during 2025. In 2026, the garden waste subscription service will run for the full 40 week season for 40 weeks (operating from Monday 2nd March to Friday 4th December). The Council will contact subscribers early in the New Year to advise of the 2026 subscription fee and with instructions on how to purchase their licences. As this is before budget council it is necessary to agree the fee in advance. For the 2026/27 financial year, it is proposed that the charge for 2024/25 will be £52 which is an increase of £3 compared to 2024/25. This is expected to produce an additional £100k compared to the current fee which will support overall savings.
7. Local government continues to be in challenging times, with worsening performance in a number of sectors nationally. The majority of performance indicators chosen to support and monitor the Council Plan in York, continue to show a generally positive and stable trend against this difficult financial picture and shows the hard work from staff, partners and the city to tackle these challenges.
8. The previous Q1 report was considered by Executive in September, and with annual data cycles and release patterns, there is limited new data for Q2 for around half of the indicators. Historic data has been left in this report where no further data available.
9. The Council Plan basket of supporting set of indicators are the high-level measurable element of our performance framework, at a Council operational and City Outcomes level, and in newly available data up to Q2 2025-26 there has been positive performance in below.
10. Key indicators around the number of children within services for Children in Care and Child Protection Plans are stable; the number of people whom are eligible and taking a free school meal has increased in both the primary and secondary sectors this year.
11. There has been a positive direction of travel over the last few years in city centre performance measures, with low shop vacancy rates; economic performance for GVA (Gross Value Added) continues to increase annually; Park & Ride and local bus passenger journeys have made a strong recovery post-covid although figures have now stabilised; the % of customers arriving at the station by sustainable modes of transport has remained high in recent years.
12. Our housing indicators are showing a positive direction of travel, with an increase in the number of new affordable homes delivered, and a further increase in new additional homes provided and consents approved. The latest Talkabout resident satisfaction measures are positive with an increase in resident satisfaction with their local area as a place to live, a stable number of residents giving help to a group or club, and an increase in the number who think that the council are doing well to improve green spaces.
13. Annex 2 is the second annual Council Plan Progress Report, providing an update of activity against each of the plan’s seven priorities in the year from September 2024 to September 2025. If approved, the report will be published on the Council’s webpages and sit alongside the six-monthly snapshot of progress. The report complements the Finance and Performance Monitor, providing a narrative for the steps that the steps that the Council is taking to meet its ambitions. The first annual Council Progress report covers the period September 2023 to September 2024 and is published here: https://www.york.gov.uk/CouncilPlanProgressReport2024. The Council Plan Progress Report started in September 2023 which is when the Council Plan 2023-2027 was approved by Executive.
14. Over the past year our school-aged vaccination rates improved markedly and uptake of the 2 – 2 ½ year-old review has increased to well above the national average. Children’s Services was rated Outstanding by Ofsted and we hit 50,000 free school meals served since the inception of York Hungry Minds. We have some of the highest successful smoking cessation rates in the country and our city-wide ‘hubs’ now cover support for frailty, SEND, families, mental health and recovery from drugs and alcohol. We have seen key city sites developed and the housing delivery programme continues to unlock affordable homes. We retained our A rating for climate leadership and our team of Neighbourhood Caretakers are now in place. We now have over £34 million of funding committed by the Combined Authority, to deliver a range of programmes covering affordable housing, transport, economy, net zero and culture.
Benefits and Challenges
15. This report is to note the latest financial projections and current performance. The main challenge is delivering on agreed savings whilst also identifying further reductions in expenditure. The benefit of a balanced budget is that resources can be diverted into delivering Council priorities.
Policy Basis for Decision
16. This report is to note the latest projections and current performance. The ongoing financial resilience and stability of the council is essential in ensuring Council priorities can continue to be achieved.
Financial Strategy Implications
17. The report sets out the projected financial position. There remain overspends within Adult Social Care and some savings that are proving difficult to fully recognise in the short term. There continues a need therefore to focus on reducing expenditure and maximising income to safeguard financial resilience and stability.
18. Given the worsening financial forecast across Adult Social Services the Director of Adult Social Care and Integration alongside senior managers have identified projects to deliver financial savings for both the remainder of the current financial year and future years in order to stabilise the financial position. This will need to be carefully monitored as well as the need to undertake wider mitigations.
19. This report sets out the projected financial position and identifies a range of actions that are necessary in order to reduce expenditure, both within the current financial year and over the next 4 years to safeguard the Council’s financial resilience and stability
Recommendation and Reasons
20. Executive is asked to:
· Note the finance and performance information.
· Note and support the need to undertake mitigation action identified within the report.
· Agree the annual Garden Waste Subscription Scheme charge for 2026/27 at £52
Reason: to ensure expenditure is kept within the approved budget.
21. Executive is asked to
· Approve the extension to 31 December 2027 for the letter of credit to York Museums Trust as outlined in paragraphs 35-37
Reason : to secure the financial viability and confidence in the Yorkshire Museum Trust
22. Executive is asked to:
· Approve the second annual Council Plan Progress report for publication on the Council’s webpages.
Reason: To provide a review of activity undertaken by the Council that supports ambitions to make York a more equal, affordable, sustainable and healthy city.
23. In relation to acceptance of the funding from the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority are recommended to:
i) Accept funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, delegating authority to the Director for City Development to progress the below, in consultation with the Executive Member for the Economy and Culture, or the Executive Member for Climate Change and the Environment:
a) £2,390,000 from the Mayoral Investment Fund
b) £604,893 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
c) £3,066,209 from the Net Zero Fund
The below is delegated to Chief Strategy Officer as below £250k:
d) £216,000 from the Mayoral Renewables Fund
ii) Accept funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, delegating authority to the Director of Housing and Communities in consultation with the Executive Member for Economy and Culture and Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, for:
a) £120,000 from the Mayoral Investment Fund
iii): Accept funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, delegating authority to the Director of Environment and Regulatory Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport for:
a) £4,423,000 for Local Highways Maintenance Funding
iv) Accept funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, delegating authority to the Director of City Development in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport for:
a) £7,456,000 from the Local Transport Grant
b) £1,582,000 from the Integrated Transport Block
c) £190,000 from the Local Transport Resource Fund
d) £4,836,416 from the Department for Transport Bus Grant
Reason: To secure funding to progress programmes of work related to each funding stream to enable activity that will support a more prosperous, affordable, accessible and equal city.
Background
Financial Summary and Mitigation Strategy
24. The current forecast is that there will be an overspend of £6.2m. This position has worsened by £1.8m compared to that reported at Monitor 1 and is therefore more concerning than previously reported. The position across Adult Social Care shows a forecast overspend of £7.47m compared to £5.09m at Monitor 1 (+£2.38m), primarily related to costs of externally commissioned care. Whilst the other services across the council are broadly within budget or underspending this is placing a significant pressure across the council. The position is less severe than was faced in previous years and last year’s outturn was much improved but we are at a level where further mitigations are required.
25. Members will be aware that the financial position of local government is a national challenge and that the pressures being seen across both Adult and Children’s Social Care are not something that is unique to York. Many Councils are experiencing significant financial pressures and struggling to balance their budgets now, so it is vital that we continue the work to reduce our expenditure down to a sustainable level both within the current financial year and over the medium term.
26. The Director of Adult Social Services has implemented a number of reviews that will seek to improve the position including
· Managing demand for services through preventative approaches,
· Reviewing existing packages of support to ensure more enabling, least restrictive and best value offers are made
· Evaluating priorities for the Review team
· Reviewing Direct Payment arrangements to ensure they are at appropriate levels to meet people’s needs
27. Elsewhere across the council cost control measures will remain in place and savings options identified to support the financial position. This will include
· Maximising the use of external grants and funding
· Constant monitoring of key income areas such as parking as to increase certainty of projections
· Consideration of whether expenditure can be slowed down, halted or deferred
· Review of earmarked reserves that could be used to support the budget position
· Review of capital programme and likely borrowing levels which impact the Treasury Management budget
28. The delivery of savings plans continues to be a clear priority for all officers. Corporate Directors and Directors will keep Executive Members informed of progress on a regular basis.
Financial Analysis
29. The Council’s net budget is £157m. The latest forecast indicate the Council is facing net financial pressures totalling £6.221m (which is a worsening of the position reported at Monitor 1 (£4.44m) and an overview of this forecast, on a directorate by directorate basis, is outlined in Table 1 below.
|
Service area |
Net budget £’000 |
2025/26 Forecast Variation £’000 |
|
Children & Education |
32,769 |
-129 |
|
Adult Social Care & Integration |
53,060 |
7,473 |
|
Transport, Environment & Planning |
19,110 |
-1,174 |
|
Housing & Communities |
7,838 |
1,224 |
|
Corporate & Central Services |
43,644 |
-673 |
|
Sub Total |
156,421 |
6,721 |
|
Contingency |
500 |
-500 |
|
Total including contingency |
156,921 |
6,221 |
Table 1: Finance overview
Reserves and Contingency
30. The February 2025 budget report to Full Council stated that the minimum level for the General Fund reserve should be £7.4m. At the beginning of 2025/26 the reserve stood at £7.4m.
31. Should the mitigation outlined in this report not deliver the required level of savings in the current financial year then this reserve is available to support the year end position. However, in light of the ongoing financial challenges being faced by all Councils it is now more important than ever to ensure the Council has sufficient reserves. Therefore, should it be the case that we need to draw down a substantial amount from this general reserve in 2025/26, growth will need to be included in the 2026/27 budget to ensure that reserves can be maintained at an appropriate level.
32. In addition to the general reserve of £7.4m there are a range of other earmarked reserves where funds are held for a specific purpose. These reserves are always subject to an annual review and these funds will again be reviewed on a quarterly basis and where appropriate to do so will be released to support the in-year position. Whilst this is a prudent approach that will ensure the financial resilience of the Council it is not a substitute for resolving the underlying overspends but instead allows time to develop future savings proposals in a planned way.
33. As in previous years a contingency budget is in place, and this is currently assumed to be available to offset the pressures outlined in this report.
Loans
34. Further to a scrutiny review, it was agreed that these quarterly monitoring reports would include a review of any outstanding loans over £100k. There is one loan in this category for £1m made to Yorwaste, a company part owned by the Council in June 2012. Interest is charged on the loans at 4% plus base rate therefore interest of 8.25% is currently being charged. All repayments are up to date.
York Museum Trust Letter of Credit
35. In August 2020, Executive approved a letter of guarantee to the York Museums Trust providing them with access to a maximum of £1.95m over the following 2 years, should it be required, to secure the museums as a going concern. Subsequent extensions have been agreed by Executive and the current letter expires in April 2026.
36. YMT have requested that the letter of guarantee be further extended to 31 December 2027 as they continue to operate with minimal reserves and need the letter of guarantee extending for their auditors to be able to sign off their accounts as a going concern. Council officers will continue to meet monthly with YMT to review current financial performance and position, to ensure CYC have early warning of any requirement to call off from the letter of credit, enabling CYC to influence mitigations.
37. The letter of guarantee outlines the Council’s commitment to providing YMT with the funds should they be required, up to a reduced amount of £1m, on receipt of evidence that the funds are required (i.e., that reserves, and other income sources have been exhausted). This allows the Trust to demonstrate that they are a going concern, as well as providing the certainty they need to continue to operate.
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Funding
38. City of York Council has secured over £30m of funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA).
39. In line with the council’s Constitution and Scheme of Delegations, expenditure in excess of £500k is a Key Decision which requires a decision from the full Executive and will contain a delegation to the relevant Director(s) to expend the funding specified. Below that Key Decision limit, Directors have delegated authority to approve spend against these funds of up to £500k, subject to any full Executive or Individual Executive Member decision. Once authorised via an appropriate Decision, an Officer Decision Notice, detailing the purpose and the funding stream, will be completed. All approvals that are subject to either Planning considerations or resident consultation will require Executive oversight at an appropriate decision session. All officer decisions are in consultation with the relevant Executive Member.
40. Project delivery governance is in line with the council’s code of governance, with projects reporting to the relevant internal governance boards and project highlight reports published on the Open Data Platform.
41. On 5 August 2025, the Executive Member for Economy and Culture accepted funding worth up to £1,038,250 from the YNYCA for the Economic Inactivity Trailblazer.
42. £4,512,000 of funding via the Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) has also been secured. Approval to receive and delegate authority for this funding will be included in reports related to housing development opportunities that utilise BHF funding.
43. The council has secured £2,850,000 of funding from the Mayoral Investment Fund for the following projects:
|
Project |
Amount |
Description |
|
Director for City Development |
|
|
|
Reimagining York Streets |
£430k |
Spatial framework for city centre public spaces |
|
Construction Skills |
£70k |
Pilot phase for further development and scale-up of private/public partnerships for training and work experience |
|
EV Charging |
£1.54m |
To expand the York Electric Vehicle Charging Network (York EV Network) to provide the public charging facilities necessary to enable anticipated increase in EVs. |
|
Movement and Place Plan |
£150k |
The
project will enable the Council to set out how York will develop up
to 2040. It will support the delivery of |
|
Great Places – Plan for Every Town (Acomb and Haxby) |
£200k |
The funding will be used to work with businesses, communities and visitors to develop a ‘bottom up’ action plan to enhance the viability and vitality of both key high streets and the general area. |
|
Director of Housing and Communities |
|
|
|
Cultural Passports |
£120k (with £460k approved in principle subject to gateway review) |
The project aims to encourage young people of secondary school age to freely engage in the region’s culture with the potential to drive inclusive growth, sustainability, social and health benefits. |
44. City of York Council has secured £604,893 UK Shared Prosperity Funding administered by the YNYCA. Activity is comprised of grant programmes for businesses, the voluntary sector and communities to provide business support, capacity building, IT support, as well as programme management and administration by the Council. The funding is for the current financial year only (2025/26) and is a mixture of capital and revenue.
45. City of York Council has secured £3,066,209 from the YNYCA Net Zero Fund. Funding will support the following projects:
a. Alex Lyon House Renewable Heating Upgrade
b. Honeysuckle House heat pump
c. Harewood Whin Green Energy Park
d. Streetlighting LED conversion
e. Commercial buildings LED lighting renewal project
f. Elvington Lane Solar PV
g. North Wigginton Onshore Wind – Project development
46. City of York Council has secured £216,000 from the Mayoral Renewables Fund to support projects at Yearsley Pool, Acomb Library and Joseph Rowntree School. The Chief Strategy Officer has delegated responsibility to progress these projects, in consultation with the Executive Member of Climate and the Environment.
47. YNYCA has allocated transport and highways funding to City of York Council. This funding is £7,456,000 from the Local Transport Grant, £1,582,000 from the Integrated Transport Block and £190,000 from the Local Transport Resource Fund. Funding has been secured for the Local Highways Maintenance Funding (£4,423,000) and the Department for Transport Bus Grant (£4,836,416).
Directorate Analysis
Children and Education
48. The forecast directorate outturn position is an underspend totalling £129k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2025/26 Budget |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Children’s Safeguarding |
26,617 |
185 |
0.7 |
|
Education & Skills |
14,897 |
-118 |
-0.8 |
|
School Funding & Assets |
-5,730 |
-29 |
0.5 |
|
Director and Central Budgets |
-3,015 |
-167 |
-5.5 |
|
Total Children and Education |
32,769 |
-129 |
-0.4 |
49. The 2025/26 year end variance prediction is £129k underspend and represents a significant and continuing improvement in the financial position of the directorate. During 2022/23 the projected unmitigated overspend peaked at £8.7m, reducing to £4.6m in 2023/24. This reflects the considerable progress that has been made within the directorate to manage spend in a number of key areas, particularly agency staffing, high cost placements and home to school transport.
50. The number of Children Looked After (CLA) in York been reducing over the past few years. From 262 CLA at the end of March 2023, the number at the end of August was 233 which is lower than at the end of 2024/25 (240).
51. The placement budgets overspent by £1,513k in 2024/25 (£3,027k in 2023/2024) but is only predicted to overspend by £94k in 2025/26.
52. Due to growth allocation for 2025/26, reduction in out of city placements and the work around the disabled children’s high-cost placements (costed to their own area and increased Health contributions) the pressure on this budget has reduced significantly.
53. There are currently 10 young people in residential, semi-independent or “Together We Can” accommodation compared to 17 placements as the end of March 2025. Of these placements 5 will become 18 years of age during 2025/26. There are currently 46 Independent Fostering Agreement (IFA) placements compared to 41 at the end of 2024/25 (plus 20 that ended during the year).
54. Staffing & other budgets within Children’s Social Work Services are predicted to overspend by £56k. Legal fees are predicted to be overspent by £55k.
55. The Disabled Children’s Services is predicted to overspend by £363k mainly due to overspends on direct payments/Early Help.
56. Innovation and Children`s Champion is forecast to underspend by £224k due to the ability to fund some expenditure from the Family Hubs grant, Family Seeing grant & Changemakers grant.
57. The Home to School Transport budget, which has been in an overspend position for a number of years has been allocated £730k of growth from the 2024/25 corporate allocation, for demographic pressures and contract inflation. This budget is now predicted to have a small overspend of £55k.
58. There was an underspend of £87k for 24/25 within the Virtual School and Inclusion service as a result of vacancies, one-off savings in non-staffing expenditure and additional grant funding supporting already committed expenditure. For 2025/26 there is a predicted underspend of £196k as support is given from a topslice of Looked After Children Pupil Premium Grant.
59. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is ahead of the target position set out in the Safety Valve recovery plan agreed with the DfE. The local authority is now in the final year of this four year agreement and has exceeded the financial targets for the first three years.
60. The brought forward balance on the DSG at 1 April 2024 was a deficit of £291k. The outturn position for 2024/25 was an in-year surplus of £883k. However, included in this figure is an amount of £960k of Safety Valve funding, so without this the in-year position would have been a deficit of £77k. The result is a final position at the 31st March 2025 of a surplus of £592k.
61. Despite the DSG now being in a cumulative surplus position, pressure on High Needs is increasing significantly. The budget for 2025/26 has been set on the basis of a predicted operational deficit in the year of £1,400k. This deficit is offset by the inclusion of the final funding due under the Safety Valve of £2m, leaving a projected year end cumulative surplus of £1.2m.
62. However, due to this underlying £1.4m annual deficit, once the safety valve funding ends the local authority expects significant challenges in managing this position in future years. In common with the national picture, York is continuing to experience an increase in High Needs pupils together with an increasing complexity of need, often requiring expensive provision, especially in Post 16 and Post 19 provision and the education element of Out of Authority placements. In particular York is facing a significant increase in demand for special school places, often exacerbated by tribunal decisions.
63. In addition, due to the significant pressures on mainstream school budgets, it is becoming increasingly difficult for High needs pupils to be supported in these settings. This situation is particularly difficult in York due to the low level of school funding which has a significant impact on these schools ability to adequately meet the needs of High Needs pupils.
64. The Safety Valve agreement committed the local authority to bring the DSG into an in-year balanced position by 2025/26. Further payments are conditional on the local authority meeting the targets set out in the Management Plan, and reporting quarterly to the DfE on progress, with the eventual aim of eliminating the in-year deficit by the target date, with additional payments by the DfE eliminating the historic deficit at that point.
65. As a result of the above, this year the Safety Valve agreement is likely to be the most difficult to date, with an increasing risk of the LA being unable to balance increasing high needs expenditure with the funding received in the High needs block of the DSG. Officers are working hard to avoid this position but it is becoming increasingly challenging to achieve
66. One option that is available to LAs with significant High Needs pressures is to seek approval to transfer up to 0.5% of the Schools Block to the High Needs Block. York is beginning a consultation process with the Schools Forum with the objective of gaining approval for such a transfer in the financial year 2026/27. If this approval is not granted, the LA can submit a disapplication request to the Secretary of State for Education to still allow such a transfer.
Adults Social Care
|
|
2025/26 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Direct Payments |
5,897 |
1,550 |
26.3 |
|
Home and Day Support |
3,174 |
381 |
12.0 |
|
Supported Living |
18,001 |
1,631 |
9.1 |
|
Residential care |
19,969 |
2,538 |
12.7 |
|
Nursing care |
6,007 |
962 |
16.0 |
|
Short term placements |
698 |
398 |
57.0 |
|
Staffing (mostly social work staff) |
7,872 |
418 |
5.3 |
|
Contracts and Commissioning |
1,830 |
-114 |
-6.2 |
|
In House Services |
5,797 |
26 |
0.4 |
|
Be Independent & Equipment |
1,058 |
189 |
17.9 |
|
Other |
-17,185 |
-569 |
3.3 |
|
Recharges |
-58 |
63 |
108.6 |
|
Total Adult Social Care |
53,060 |
7,473 |
14.1 |
68. ASC has received total growth of £10m in 2025/26. £8m of this growth has been allocated to fund inflationary pressures and £2m growth is set aside to address care provider NI pressures.
69. The following section gives more detail on the achievement of savings and mitigations to be investigated to reduce the forecast overspend.
70. Budget Council approved £1,140k of savings for Adult Social Care with a further £358k of savings crystallising from ongoing business efficiencies. £755k has already been delivered with a further £743k expected to be achieved by the year end.
71. The paragraphs below detail the actions that are being taken across the Directorate to control and mitigate expenditure.
72. Accelerate learning and re-emphasise approach of the Front Door Team: The transformation team are working with this team to understand the demand coming through and how to divert those whose needs can be met without formal intervention and triaging those who aren’t eligible for service earlier to save social work resource further down the line.
73. Review of the highest cost Learning Disability packages: The DASS has assigned these top priority within the LD Team to consider what options there may be to support individuals to live more independently whilst remaining safe. Learning from these cases can then be applied to similar high cost packages.
74. Evaluate the impacts of the recently formed Review Team: This team has been running for approx. six months and Finance are working with the team to evaluate savings, capture emerging themes etc which can be used to prioritise future reviews yielding further savings. Consideration will be given to moving additional resources or commissioning external support to accelerate these opportunities.
75. Review Direct Payments above standard rates: Standard rates that the Council would pass across to individuals were agreed for the first time in 25/26. There are several packages where the rates are above the standard and teams are identifying such packages with a view to considering how the packages can be managed back down to the standard rates.
76. Use of Internal Services: ensure that all internal services are maximised in terms of their capacity to avoid incurring expense by commissioning external care. Work is already underway to change the emphasis of Community Support Assistants in LD to a reablement approach rather than hold cases indefinitely.
77. There are also several ongoing projects which could yield in-year savings such as:
· Implement and accelerate learning to date of the work done in signposting and advice workstream
· Getting the Local Area Co-ordinators working more closely with adult social work to prevent escalation of need
· Procurement of brokerage tool to support negotiations with providers
· Review of Be Independent service to ensure it maximises opportunities to support people in their own homes and prevent escalation of need
78. Adult Social Care Management Team have noted the worsening financial forecast and are prioritising efforts to mitigate the position. The table listing mitigation actions below describes the areas being investigated with detailed action plans in development. The figures are an initial estimate based on current package numbers and unit costs and will be refined as these plans mature. The action plan and progress is now a standing items on the fortnightly Directorate Management Team agenda with existing tracking systems being employed and rolled out across the projects to provide rigour and assurance that the financial benefits are being captured and accurately recorded with any learning being disseminated to social care teams.
|
ASC reference |
Project |
Savings 2526 (£k) |
|
|
Total |
1,463 |
|
ASC01 |
Provider – CSA reablement model into LD |
TBC |
|
ASC02 |
22 The Avenue – Community MH model |
58 |
|
ASC03 |
Res/Nursing usage task and finish (replaces Glen Lodge saving previously reported on) |
134 |
|
ASC04 |
S117 funding |
974 |
|
ASC05 |
Transport |
TBC |
|
ASC06 |
Reducing responder rota in Be Independent |
11 |
|
ASC07 |
Investment in resource to undertake outstanding Direct Payment Audits and financial assessments |
142 |
|
ASC08 |
Planned Review Team (an element of the £500k budget saving previously reported) |
84 |
|
ASC09 |
Adults Transformation Project: Learning Disability Service model, including practice and budget (an element of the £500k budget saving previously reported) |
60 |
|
ASC10 |
Review of Personal Support Service staffing |
TBC |
79. The primary source of financial pressure are increases in numbers of people requiring more costly forms of support; and the costs of care.
80. Reducing the level of support per individual can only be achieved lawfully through a re-assessment of need; one which identifies a way to reduce the need, or meet the need in alternate ways. This requires a one to one, one by one conversation with individuals and their families which identifies a viable and acceptable alternative. Sufficient resource to do this requires social workers and occupational therapists trained and confident in strengths based practice; with sufficient alternative resource, reablement and preventive capacity to draw on; and the ability to support people and their families to accept alternative models of support.
81. Costs of care have been identified by the government as a national risk, with the impact of provider failure a high concern. The recent failure of NRS, the equipment supplier to approximately 1/3 of the market, illustrates this. The local authority has a duty to meet assessed need, and also a duty to self-funders in respect of provider failure. If care providers fail or decide to withdraw from the York market, this could leave individuals with learning disability, mental ill health, or physical disability with no care and no care placement if alternatives cannot be found. In such a scenario the LA will not meet its statutory duties.
Inflation Uplifts
Analysis of financial position
83. The following sections describe any significant variations to budgeted costs, customer numbers and income. The variations are generally due to not fully meeting previous years’ savings targets plus significant price pressures in the market. Some variations are large due to having small numbers of individuals within those budgets whose individual needs can vary significantly.
Direct Payments (£1,550k overspend)
84. Direct Payments are projected to overspend by £1,550k to 25/26 budget. This is largely due to the increased weekly average cost of Learning Disability Direct Payments (£1,109k). Despite a reduction in care package numbers, the average cost has increased by £139 per week for care and £42 per week for transport.
85. Physical & Sensory Impairment Direct Payments average weekly costs have increased by £52 for care and £16 for transport with number of packages remaining in line with 25/26 budget assumptions (£264k).
86. The Physical & Sensory Impairment (P&SI) Direct Payments budget is projected to overspend by £167k compared to Q1 monitor. This is due to 4 additional care packages (£63k) and back payments for multiple packages increasing the average weekly cost by £21 per week (£104k).
87. The Learning Disability (LD) Direct Payment budget is projected to underspend £60k versus Q1 due to an increase in reclaims in Direct Payments and Transport.
88. The Direct Payment working group continues to meet regularly to address issues and explore opportunities in this area.
Home and Day Support (£381k Overspend)
89. Older People Community Support hours have increased by 789 hours per week compared to budget which has been offset with additional contributions to care with a net £100k overspend. This overspend is further impacted by a reduction in health income of £206k with Older People Community Support projected a total £306k overspend.
90. The Physical & Sensory Impairment (P&SI) community support budget is projected to overspend by £375k versus Q1. Homecare hours have increased by an average 192 hours per week (£230k), exception contracts have increased by 1 from Q1 (£24k) and there has been a reduction in the contributions to care (£49k).
91. LD community support budget is projected to overspend by £182k due to an additional individual receiving LD Transitions Day Support (£70k) and an increase of 19 people receiving LD Day Support, this is offset with a reduction in the average weekly cost of LD External Home Care with a net overspend of £112k.
92. The OP community support budget is projected to overspend by £117k against Q1. This is due to an increase in the average cost per hour (£552k) offset by a reduction in the average number of hours (£-378k).
Supported Living (£1,631k overspend)
93. Supported Living is projected to overspend by £1,631k to budget due to an increase in the number of care packages for Learning Disability Supported Living of 5 people (£417k). The average weekly cost has increased £134 to budget (£1,296k) and a decrease in the average weekly amount of citizen contributions received (£88k). The average costs for void contracts has also increase from budget, contributing £255k to the overspend in this area.
94. The LD Supported Living budget is projected to overspend by £487k compared to Q1. This is driven by 4 new people receiving care (£301k) and an additional void contract in Q2 (£100k).
95. Supported Living was an area ASC were unable to rebase the budget. A business case is underway to investigate the longer-term needs within this area which may include building new provision.
Residential care (£2,538k overspend)
96. Residential Care projection to budget is a £2,538k overspend, of which £1,886k relates to Older People Residential Care. This increase is driven by and additional 47 people receiving care than budgeted and at a higher average rate of £41 per week to budget (£3,093k). This is offset with additional income from citizen contributions and deferred payments (£-1,360k).
97. Residential Care for Working Age Learning Disabilities has seen an increase in the number of care packages and at higher increased cost impacting the projection by £1,245k versus budget; however, income from health contributions have also increased to support care by £-313k (net £906k overspend).
98. The Older People residential budget is projected to overspend by £833k. This is due to an increase of 10 care packages from Q1 at a higher average weekly rate of £36.32 compared to Q1 (£1.17m), offset with increased contributions to care (£271k).
99. The Mental Health (MH) residential projection includes S117 funding recharges CYC are expected to receive from ICB (£-184k).
100. Residential Care budget is facing increasing pressure from rising rates for new packages. The average cost of a new care package for an individual is £253.31 per week more than an ending package.
Nursing Care (£962k overspend)
101. Nursing Care projected outturn position is £962k overspent. This is driven by increased average rates for Older People Nursing Care of £161 per week more than budgeted (£999k).
102. The LD Working Age budget for Nursing Care is projected to overspend by £101k. the projection has increased from Q1 due to an additional person receiving care and the average weekly cost of care increasing (£101k).
Short Term Placements (£398k overspend)
103. The overspend for Short Term Placements is driven by the increasing average weekly cost of short-term care with rates increasing by £570 per week year on year.
In House Services and Staffing (£13k overspend)
104. Staffing Overspends in the ISS Team, Mental Advocacy Team, The Emergency Duty Team and the Social Work Team. Mostly due to these teams being over establishment. This is offset by underspends in the Hospital Discharge Team and the ASC Community Team.
In House Services (£26k overspend)
105. The underspend is due to staffing hours being held back until the Glen Lodge refurbishment is complete. The forecast includes £105k investment in staffing with the ambition of diverting ten people from residential care packages to achieve the Business as Usual saving ASC07 in the savings table above.
Be Independent & Equipment (£189k overspend)
106. There is still a budget gap of £130k arising from when the service was originally insourced which has yet to be fully addressed. Staffing is expected to overspend by £30k largely due to an unfunded regrade of some of the posts in the team.
107. This area is being reviewed to ensure it is delivering value for money and towards the ASC Strategy and Care Act 2014 objective to prevent and reduce care needs.
Transport, Environment and Planning
108. The directorate is forecasting an underspend at quarter 2 of £1,174k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2025/26 Budget
£’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Transport |
7,529 |
-374 |
-5.0 |
|
Fleet |
-54 |
17 |
31.5 |
|
Highways |
5,388 |
-325 |
-6.0 |
|
Parking Services |
-9,739 |
-661 |
6.8 |
|
Waste |
10,177 |
-696 |
-6.8 |
|
Public Realm |
3,859 |
26 |
0.7 |
|
Emergency Planning |
149 |
62 |
41.6 |
|
Planning Services |
-1 |
699 |
*** |
|
Public Protection |
918 |
8 |
0.9 |
|
Community Safety |
702 |
70 |
10.0 |
|
Management |
182 |
0 |
0.0 |
|
TOTAL |
19,110 |
-1,174 |
-6.1 |
109. The Transport, Environment and Planning service is projecting an underspend of £1,174k at the second monitoring position. This is an improvement of £504k compared to Monitor 1. The primary reason for the underspend is continued strong performance from income particularly relating to parking and also savings across waste services. These are detailed further in the paragraphs below.
110. Within Transport there is a forecast underspend of £374k across the service. There are projected underspends due to additional income levels of Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders and contributions from bus service contributions. There are offset from overspends on the CCTV contract and shortfall of revenue from ANPR as the camera equipment has not been functioning as required.
111. Car parking tariffs were increased in April with the intention of reducing traffic in the city centre whilst investing in sustainable travel.
112. Car park income to the end of September (6 months) was approximately 9% ahead of budget. There has been a reduction in the number of transactions (14%) but the average transaction has increased by 40%. This has meant total income is c20% higher than 2024/25. Additional resource of £60k has been allocated to undertake reviews of the impact of the charges on businesses and economic activity. The net additional income to the end of September is £390k and currently forecast to overachieve by £500k.
113. Across parking services expenditure an underspend of £161k is forecast as there is forecast additional income from Penalty Charge Notices (£800k compared to £760k budget) as well as operational underspends.
114. The net income from all parking sources is utlised to support the council’s highways and transport expenditure.
115. There is a forecast underspend of (£696k) across waste disposal and collection. Income from selling spare capacity at Allerton Waste Recovery Plan is forecast to be £100k higher than forecast as overall council waste tonnages remain relatively static. Income levels are forecast to be ahead of budget in areas including Gargen Waste (£100k) recycling rebates (£239k), HWRC commercial waste fees (£15k) and general commercial waste service (£74k). Processing costs are also forecast to be c £150k below budget.
116. Across Waste Collection operational costs are forecast to be c £110k above budget as employee and vehicle costs are slightly ahead of profile.
117. Within the Highways area there is an anticipated underspend of £325k as electricity prices have reduced for unmetered supply to a lower level than assumed in the budget.
118. Across Planning Services there has been a shortage of staff across Building Control resulting in only a minimal chargeable service being in operation. This is resulting in a forecasted shortfall of c £380k across the service area. This may improve should additional resources be sourced in the year. There is also a forecast shortfall of income on general planning applications leading to an overspend of £300k.
Housing and Community Services
119. The directorate is forecasting an overspend at quarter 2 of £1,224k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2025/26 Budget
£’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Housing Services |
933 |
+42 |
+4.5 |
|
Healthy & Sustainable Homes |
395 |
+27 |
+6.8 |
|
Building Services |
-511 |
0 |
0.0 |
|
Communities |
6,913 |
+656 |
+9.5 |
|
Customer Services |
108 |
+499 |
+462 |
|
TOTAL |
7,838 |
+1,224 |
+15.6 |
120. Within Communities the main potential pressure relates to the £600k library saving. This was £300k from 2024/25 with another £300k for 2025/26. To date this saving has not been delivered causing a budget pressure from 2024/25 and increased pressure in 2025/26. The council is exploring options with Explore that can be included into the contract to deliver savings on this service. The process does require time to review provision levels as well as consultation and agreement from the partners. There remains an aspiration to gain a full saving from the process but the level of savings that can be delivered this year remains unknown and the timescale for delivery of the full saving is unclear.
121. A saving from a restructure of the Early intervention and Local Area teams (£75k from 20024/25 plus £37k 2025/26) has been finalised however the savings will not yet begin until November.
122. A further significant overspend from bereavement services of £295k is being forecast. As a result of a restructure to make savings in 2024/25 against the crematorium costs of £80k will impact this year with additional operating costs of £22k. The income forecast based on the first 4 months bookings shows a forecast under-recovery of £67k. Pressures on the bookings at the crematorium include alternatives to the traditional ceremony. CYC commitments at Fulford cemetery are also being forecast at £100k whilst temporary management arrangements have bee arranged with the Parish council.
123. Staffing costs on the Customer Services and Registrars are slightly higher than the budget, plus a restructure cost of £26k.
124. There are several risk areas on the homelessness service but currently expecting to meet all the costs through the Homelessness Prevention Grant and Rough Sleeping Grant, both of which have increased for 2025/26. Staff transferred into providing the new resettlement service lives will each potentially receive an increase in salary. A full restructure of the Resettlement Team which will include the General Fund Hostels and CYC office staff needs to be within available resources. Hostels staff are reliant on “Work with York” to cover absences. Rents at the hostels are to be reviewed to ensure that they cover costs but this may not be put into effect until April 2026. There are extra posts being funded from the refugee grants.
125. Healthy homes is likely to have an overspend with HMO licence fee income. This pressure could be resolved by the issuing of penalty charge notices to landlords that have not properly licenced their properties.
Housing Revenue Account
126. The Housing Revenue Account budget for 2025/26 was set as a net surplus of £2,023k prior to debt repayment due in 2026. There were carry forwards of £2,074k agreed as part of the outturn report meaning the revised budget stands at £51k deficit (excluding £9,500k debt repayment).
127. It is currently assumed that the overall account will outturn within the budget.
128. The pay award was slightly higher than expected and is £17k higher than the provision set aside although it is expected that this can be managed within the total establishment budgets.
129. There arel be extra costs under general management which are unavoidable. Subscription fees to the Housing Ombudsman and the Housing Regulator have risen by £30k and the annual software subscription to Capita is £45k. CYC is also facing increasing numbers of disrepair claims resulting in high levels of legal costs – currently £41k above budget.
130. The post of Assistant Director has been filled as from November 2025 and temporary management arrangements have been in place prior to this date. These costs are lower than budget and will fund the in year pressures above.
131. There are currently 2 vacancies within the HRA leadership, Assistant Director will be vacant from July and Head of Housing and Asset Management has been vacant since April. Both posts will be filled but the saving while they are vacant should mitigate the general management overspends.
132. There is a forecast underspend across special services primarily due to lower than budgeted utility costs alongside savings from Glen Lodge as the refurbishment scheme is delivered. This is offset from reduced income in the Charges for Service line.
133. Rents are forecasting at £230k below budget (0.6%) primarily due to the voids resulting from refurbishment schemes at Glen Lodge and Bell Farm in the early part of the year. This has been partly offset by additional Leaseholder charges for 2025/26 which are forecast at £145k above budget.
134. The HRA working balance position as at 31st March 2025 was £25.8m and are forecast to reduce but is still higher than assumed when the budget was set. The latest forecast balance at 31st March 2026 is estimated to reduce to £16.4m.
Corporate & Central Services
135. The forecast outturn position for the remaining areas of the Council is a net underspend of £565k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2025/26 Budget
£’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Director of Finance |
5,876 |
-439 |
-7.5 |
|
CO HR & Support Services |
12,233 |
+418 |
+3.4 |
|
Director of Governance |
4,110 |
+4 |
+0.1 |
|
City Development |
1,020 |
+844 |
+82.7 |
|
Public Health |
29 |
0 |
0 |
|
Other Corporate & Treasury Mgt |
20,377 |
-1,500 |
-7.4 |
|
Total |
43,645 |
-673 |
-1.5 |
136. The underspend in Finance is driven by favourable income variances in; Property Services £237k, Finance £67k, Transactional Services £82k and Business Intelligence £53k.
137. Across Property there is additional revenue anticipated from capital fees arising from designing and supervising building works assumed to be £330k above budget. There is also additional income from tenants leasing space at West Offices. This is offset from a £166k (4%) pressure on the overall commercial portfolio due to voids.
138. The main negative variance to budget in the Directorate is in HR & Support Services. The £418k overspend is predominately driven by the loss of the IT support contract for Explore £90k alongside overspends across system development including dual running costs of the council’s CRM. Work is ongoing to seek to mitigate this position.
139. In City Development the saving identified to increase advertising revenue will not be achieved in 2025/26 as there is a need to replace the bus shelters in order to fit new digital screens. This will be undertaken during the year. Revenue from the new agreement is expected to start in 2026/27.
140. There remains £500k set aside as a contingency and this is assumed to be used to offset other financial pressures across the council.
Performance – Service Delivery
141. This performance report is based upon the city outcome and council delivery indicators included in the Performance Framework for the Council Plan (2023-2027) which was launched in September 2023. Wider or historic strategic and operational performance information is published quarterly on the Council’s open data platform; www.yorkopendata.org.uk
142. The Executive for the Council Plan (2023-2027) agreed a core set of indicators to help monitor the Council priorities and these provide the structure for performance updates in this report. Some indicators are not measured on a quarterly basis and the DoT (Direction of Travel) is calculated on the latest three results whether they are annual or quarterly.
143. A summary of the city outcome and council delivery indicators by council plan theme are shown in the paragraphs below, and the latest data for all of the core indicator set can be seen in Annex 1.
Performance - Health and Wellbeing: A health generating city
146. % of reception year children recorded as being overweight (incl. obese) – The participation rates for the National Child Measurement Programmes (NCMP) in York for 2023-24 were 96.9% for reception aged children and 94.5% for Year 6 pupils.
· The 2023-24 NCMP found that 22.8% of reception aged children in York were overweight (including obese), compared with 22.1% in England and 23.8% in the Yorkshire and Humber region. York has the fourth lowest rate of overweight (including obese) for reception aged children in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The rate in York has increased compared with 2022-23 (from 19.9% to 22.8%).
· Of Year 6 children in York, 33.5% were overweight (including obese) in 2023-24 compared with 35.8% in England and 37.5% in the Yorkshire and Humber region. York has the second lowest rate of overweight (including obese) for Year 6 children in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The rate in York has increased compared with 2022-23 (from 32.5% to 33.5%).
· Data for 2024-25 will be available in November 2025.
147. Slope index of inequality in life expectancy at birth – Average Life Expectancy for men in York (79.8 years) is above the England average (79.1 years). For women (83.6 years) it is also above the England average (83.1 years).
· Healthy Life Expectancy for men in York (62.0 years) is above the England average (61.5 years). For women (62.7 years) it is also above the England average (61.9 years).
· The Slope Index of Inequality in life expectancy at birth measures the difference in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas within a population. A higher value indicates a greater difference in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas, suggesting greater health inequalities. The first published values were for 2011-13.
· Since 2011-13 the inequality in life expectancy for women, in York, has increased (worsened) from 6.2 years to 6.7 years. The English average is currently 8.3 years.
· Since 2011-13 the inequality in life expectancy for men, in York, has increased (worsened) from 6.6 years to 10.1 years. The English average is currently 10.5 years.
· Deprivation deciles are drawn up using data from the 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in York are ranked from 1 to 120 on the overall IMD measure and then divided into local deprivation deciles with 12 LSOAs in each.
· For women, in York, between the most and least deprived deciles there is currently a 9.2 year difference in life expectancy. For men, it is currently a 10.7 year difference in life expectancy.
148. % of adults (aged 16+) that are physically active – The latest data from the Adult Active Lives Survey for the period from mid-November 2023 to mid-November 2024 was published in April 2025. In York, 366 people aged 16 and over took part in the survey, and they reported higher levels of physical activity, and lower levels of physical inactivity, compared with the national and regional averages. York has the 6th highest physical activity rate and the lowest physical inactivity rate in England (out of 296 Districts and Unitary Authorities). Positively:
· 76.5% of people in York did more than 150 minutes of physical activity per week compared with 63.7% nationally and 62.3% regionally. There was a significant improvement in physical activity in York compared with the previous year (69.8%).
· 12.9% of people in York did fewer than 30 minutes per week compared with 25.1% nationally and 26.9% regionally. There was a significant improvement in physical inactivity in York compared with the previous year (18.8%).
149. Percentage of people who use services who have control over their daily life – In 2023-24, 81% of all York’s respondents to the Adult Social Care Survey said that they had “as much control as they wanted” or “adequate” control over their daily life, which was higher than the percentage from respondents in the Y&H region as a whole (80%). It is also higher than the corresponding percentage who gave one of these responses in England as a whole (78%). It has slightly increased in York from the 2022-23 figure (78%). Data for 2024-25 will be available in January 2026.
150. Percentage of people who use services who have control over their daily life – Older People – In 2023-24, 76% of older people in York that responded to the Adult Social Care Survey said that they had “as much control as they wanted” or “adequate” control over their daily life. This is the same as the corresponding percentages experienced by older people in the Y&H region (76%) and higher than for older people in England as a whole (74%). However, it has decreased in York from the 2022-23 figure (77%). Data for 2024-25 will be available in January 2026.
152. Health Inequalities in wards – The ‘health gap’ indicators show the difference between the wards with the highest and lowest values. A lower value is desirable as it indicates less variation in health outcomes based on where people live within the City. Trend data for these indicators helps to monitor whether the gaps are narrowing or widening over time.
· Absolute gap in % of children who reach expected level of development at 2-2.5 years of age between highest and lowest York ward (4 yr aggregated) - The value for this indicator for the 4 year period 2021-22 to 2024-25 was 9.6% (the difference between 95.5% in Haxby & Wiggington and 85.9% in Clifton). The latest value represents an improvement (a narrowing of the gap in York) compared with the previous values of 10.5% for 2020-21 to 2023-24 and 13.7% for 2019-20 to 2022-23.
· Absolute gap in % of children totally or partially breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks between highest and lowest York ward (4 year aggregated ward data) - The value for this indicator for the 4 year period 2021-22 to 2024-25 was 36.4% (the gap between 80.5% in Heworth Without and 44% in Westfield). The latest value represents an improvement (a narrowing of the gap in York) compared with the previous values of 39.3% for 2020-21 to 2023-24 and 39% for 2019-20 to 2022-23.
153. Children and young people in care per 10k, excluding short breaks – At the end of September 2025, 235 children and young people were in York’s care. As a rate per 10k population, this is just below the National average (2023-24) and within York’s expected range. Separated children (also known as ‘UASC’), a sub-group of children in care, are expected to increase in number in York due to the National Transfer Scheme. The scheme mandates that “the Home Office will not transfer UASC to an authority that is already looking after UASC in line with, or greater than, 0.1% of their child population”. For York, this is equivalent to approximately 34 young people based on current population. However, the number of separated children has decreased, with 16 at the end of September 2025, compared to 21 in December 2024.
154. Children subject to a Child Protection Plan – 135 children were the subject of a Child Protection Plan at the end of September 2025, which is a reduction on recent months but still within York’s expected range. As a rate per 10k population, York is just below the National average (2023-24).
Performance - Education and Skills: High quality skills and learning for all
156. % of working age population qualified to at least L4 and above – In 2024-25, 59.6% of the working age population in York were qualified to at least L4 and above (certificate of higher education or equivalent), which is higher than the national and regional figures (47.6% and 40% respectively). This result ranks the city of York fourth regionally. The 2024-25 figure is an increase from 2023-24 (53.8%).
157. % of pupils achieving 9-4 or above in English and Maths at KS4 – Provisional KS4 data provided by York schools suggests that 74.5% of Year 11s achieved grade 4+ in English and Maths in summer 2025. National data is not yet available, but York has historically been above the national average.
158. % of children who have achieved a Good Level of Development at Foundation Stage – Provisional data shows that 71.4% of our 5-year-olds achieved a Good Level of Development in summer 2025. Last year, 67.7% of pupils nationally, and 66.1% in Yorkshire and Humber achieved the same level.
Performance - Economy: A fair, thriving, green economy for all
159. Universal Credit Claimants – At the end of September 2025 there were 15,384 people, in York, on Universal Credit. This is the highest figure to date, surpassing the previous high of 13,236 in February 2021. The figures dropped to a low of 11,054 in May 2022 but they have steadily increased since then. This is a mixture of increased claimants and people who have been converting over from other schemes (Tax Credits and most other legacy benefits), with this picture becoming clearer at the end of 2026 as DWP predicts/plans for all people to have moved over to Universal Credit. This (claimant total) represents 11.2% of the working population in York, compared to 21.5% regionally and 19.8% nationally.
160. There are two types of claimant: those in employment and those not. Both types have been gradually increasing in the last 12 months. The number of those not in employment has increased as claimants of health-related legacy benefits (e.g. Employment and Support Allowance) have migrated across to Universal Credit. The higher percentage of those in employment, in York, may be attributed to a higher percentage of part time workers (27.9% in York, 23.6% regionally and 23.2% nationally).
163. % of vacant city centre shops – At the end of September 2025, there were 39 vacant shops in the city centre which equates to 6.2% of all city centre shops. This is 11 shops lower than at the same point in 2024 and much lower than the latest provisional national benchmark in Q1 2025-26 of 13.7%.
164. GVA per head (£) – In 2023-24, the GVA per head in York was £41,162 which was the second highest figure regionally. This latest figure is an increase from last year (£37,748). Annually since 2009-10, the GVA per head has generally been increasing (from £25,976 per head).
165. % of working age population in employment (16-64) – In Q1 2025-26, 79.3% of the working age population were in employment, which is higher than the national and regional figures (75.5% and 73.4% respectively) and the York performance gives the city a ranking of first regionally. The figure for Q1 2025-26 in York remains fairly high overall compared to previous years.
166. % of Total Employees working for an Accredited Living Wage/Good Business Charter employer – 16% of employees worked for an Accredited Living Wage employer and 13.5% worked for an Accredited Good Business Charter employer in 2023-24, which are at the same level as last year. Data for 2024-25 will be available in November 2025.
167. Survival of Newly Born Businesses post 1 year – The survival rate post 1 year has been consistently around 94% in York for the last 4 years, with the latest figure of 93.9%. The York figures have been consistently higher than the National and Regional rates (92.3% and 91.7% respectively).
Performance - Transport: Sustainable accessible transport for all
168. The transport data within this report is mainly a number of existing annual measures, and while high-level datasets provide a general understanding of the challenges and direction in the city, they are not detailed enough to draw full conclusions for Transport Policy and local schemes. Therefore collectively, across departments, the Council are looking into improving data provision from its existing network of cameras and assets to help assist policy decisions, as well as exploring the cost and accuracy of providers of new technology. This data will be surfaced in other transport documents and on York Open Data where appropriate rather than detailed within the main Council Plan performance framework.
169. Bus Passenger Journeys – Passenger journeys for park and ride customers totalled 0.87m during Q1 2025-26, compared to 0.92m in Q1 2024-25. Passenger journeys for other local providers totalled 0.84m for May 2025 (latest data) compared to 0.87m in May 2024.
170. Although a strong recovery has been made to bus usage post-covid, the long-term behavioural and lifestyle changes of increased online shopping and hybrid working are likely to continue re-shaping the use of public transport. In recent years, journeys appear to have stabilised, suggesting the emergence of a new baseline for demand. Bus passenger numbers are affected by a number of factors and the increase in the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 at the beginning of 2025 is likely to have had some impact.
171. Area Wide Traffic Levels – Between 2011-12 and 2016-17, the number of vehicles on the city’s roads increased year on year to a high of 2.2 million. Following this, the numbers decreased to a low of 1.75m in 2020-21. However, the covid pandemic brought with it numerous national lockdowns and local restrictions so the decrease in traffic levels was to be expected. Since then, figures increased to 2.08m in 2022-23 and have remained fairly comparable since. The latest figure is 2.03m vehicles in 2024-25.
172. The area wide traffic levels come from CYC’s network of automatic traffic counters, covering 15 sites (main A and B roads in York, but not including the A64). Further information for this indicator can be accessed on the York Open Data platform. This data is different from the public DFT data on traffic levels, which is collected on an annual or bi-annual basis by the National Data Company NDC and subsequently published by the DFT on its website.
173. Index of pedestrians walking to and from the City Centre – From a baseline in 2009 (36,919), there has been a 1% increase in the number of pedestrians walking to and from the city centre in 2024. This is 24 percentage points lower than in 2023, but this drop is likely because there was heavy rain on the day the survey took place, so less people were walking to and from the city centre.
174. Walking data is collected over a 12 hour period once per year (a count of pedestrians crossing an inner cordon set just beyond the inner ring road and includes off-road routes such as riverside paths) and there is a valuable record going back many years. Whilst this provides us with part of the picture, the limited nature of the data (that it is only collected on one day) mean that other variables such as the weather and roadworks can have undue influence. In response to this we are exploring other methods to monitor walking, wheeling and cycling across the network, including modern counters.
175. % of customers arriving at York station by sustainable modes of transport – In 2024, 79% of customers arrived at York station by sustainable modes of transport which is a slight increase from 78% in 2023. The data is usually gathered by an annual survey which takes place for a five-hour period in seven locations around the station. Members of the public are asked how they arrive at the station and the results are flow weighted to take into account the split of people arriving at each entrance. To support this survey, which can be impacted by weather and other factors, we are exploring further methods to monitor sustainable travel to the station including modern counters.
177. When looking at all providers of EV charging, the latest data collated by ZapMap, a charging locator app, shows that for York the total number of publicly available charging devices (all speeds) was 170 at the end of Q1 2025-26 which is an increase from 160 the previous quarter. The number of those which were rapid chargers was 49 at the end of Q1 which is a decrease of 1 from the previous quarter. A charging device may have more than one connecter and be able to charge more than one vehicle at a time so the figures do not show total charging capacity but are an indication of and can be used to compare York to national and regional rates. The rate of devices available (all speeds) per 100,000 population was 83.1 for York compared to 74.7 Regionally and 123.8 Nationally. With 24 rapid chargers per 100,000 population, York was just above the Regional rate of 21.9 and equal to the National rate at Q1.
179. The percentage of non-principal roads in York, from local figures, where maintenance should be considered was 33% in 2024-25 (a large increase from 25% in 2023-24). Like the above indicator, there are two processes for collecting this indicator, a local one for providing the figures above, and a one-off SCANNER survey which is used by the DfT for benchmarking. The latest York figure for SCANNER is 4% for non-principal roads in 2024-25 which is lower than the latest benchmarks in 2023-24 (National average 7% and Regional average 4%).
Performance - Housing: Increasing the supply of affordable housing
180. Number of new affordable homes delivered in York – During 2024-25, affordable housing completions are significantly below the identified level of need (although 153 affordable homes have been delivered in 2024-25, compared to 122 in 2023-24). National scale challenges are facing many areas with buoyant housing markets such as a shortage of sites for affordable housing and labour and supply chain constraints, and these have affected delivery in York. The council itself is maximising delivery opportunities currently, and will access a range of funding opportunities for direct delivery in addition to securing over half of the total completions during 2024-25 through Section 106 planning agreements. The council’s own Housing Delivery Programme will deliver an increased number of affordable homes during 2025-26, including accessing significant grant funding.
181. There is a significant and growing future pipeline of affordable homes with planning permission in place across the council's own newbuild development programme and section 106 planning gain negotiated affordable housing. This has been supported by the progress to adoption of the council’s Local Plan. Inclusive of applications with a resolution to approve from Planning Committee, there are over 1,500 affordable homes identified in approved planning applications. The progress ranges from sites that are being built out currently to others with substantial infrastructure or remediation challenges to resolve prior to development. Over 600 of these have progressed through detailed planning, either as a Full application or Reserved Matters (inclusive of applications with Resolution to Grant from Planning Committee, awaiting s106 agreement). The remainder are at Outline stage, with more uncertainty on timescales and final delivery levels, including the York Central affordable housing contribution.
182. The Government and Combined Authority have stated that housing supply, and affordable homes in particular, are amongst its key delivery priorities and the council will take advantage of new opportunities in this climate wherever possible.
183.
% of dwellings with energy rating in
A-C band in the EPC register – An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) gives a
property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G
(least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. Apart from a few
exemptions, a building must have an EPC assessment when
constructed, sold or let. Whilst the EPC register does not hold
data for every property, it can be viewed as an indication of the
general efficiency of homes. The rating is based on how a property
uses and loses energy for example through heating, lighting,
insulation, windows, water and energy sources. Each area is given a
score which is then used to determine the A-G rating and a rating
of A-C is generally considered to be good energy performance.
184. The % of properties on the register for York with an EPC rating of A-C at the end of June 2025 was 46.6%. This measure has increased incrementally month on month since CYC began reporting on the information in March 2023 when 42% of properties were rated A-C. The largest changes in York continue to be in the middle categories with around 4% less properties rated D-E and around 4% more rated C. Data is based on the last recorded certificate for 63,355 properties on the register for York, some of which will have been last assessed more than ten years ago. When looking at the latest quarter only (Q1), 1,331 new certificates were lodged for York and 59% of these were rated A-C compared to 61% for the region and 64% nationally for the same period.
· There has been a total of 649 net housing completions. This includes the following:
o 395 were new build homes (60.9%)
o 258 (39.8%) net additional homes were a result of changes from other uses to residential homes, of which 33 were a result of ‘prior approval’ consents
o 4 homes resulted from conversions
o 8 homes were demolished during the monitoring period
· In terms of the type of sites that were developed:
o 485 homes (74.7%) were completed on housing sites (Use Class C3)
§ Significant sites providing housing completions (Use Class C3) over the monitoring period have been the Former York City Football Ground, Bootham Crescent (25), Cocoa Works, Haxby Road (Phases II) (35), Former Civil Service Club, Boroughbridge Road (38), Cherry Tree House, 218 Fifth Avenue (48), Germany Beck housing site (69), and Cocoa Works, Haxby Road (Phases I) (172)
o 54 (8.3%) homes were on individual sites with five or less dwellings
o 135 (20.8%) net additional off campus, privately managed student ‘cluster flats’ were completed at Former Alton Cars, 3 James Street.
· A further 63 net equivalent homes resulted from additional bedspaces created at both new and existing care homes within the authority area during the twelve-month monitoring period.
186. Net Housing Consents – Planning applications determined during the full monitoring period of 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025 resulted in the approval of 739 net additional homes. A further 416 net additional homes were approved at Planning Committee during the monitoring period and are still awaiting legal agreement sign off.
187. The main features of the housing approvals are:
· 642 of all net homes consented (86.87%) were granted on housing sites (Use Class C3).
· Significant sites granted approval for housing (Use Class C3) include new homes planned for housing allocations ST4: Land to South of Hull Road Heslington (162), ST33: Land to East of Millfield Industrial Estate Main Street Wheldrake (139), H29: Land to S/E of 51 Moor Lane Copmanthorpe (75) and the provision of new homes and the change of use at The Retreat 107 Heslington Road (120)
· 64 homes were approved on sites of 5 or less homes
· 44 homes are to be lost through a change to other uses or through proposed demolition
· 133 purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) ‘cluster’ flats were approved at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, 15 Foss Islands Road
· A further 416 homes have been approved through a resolution to grant consent at Planning Committee over the last twelve months and are currently subject to the execution of a section 106 legal agreement. The most significant of these sites are:
o The PBSA approved at 19 to 33 Coney Street (248)
o Land to South and East of the Cemetery, New Lane Huntington (107)
o Hungate Development Site (42 net additional homes compared to the previously consented total)
189. Of the 33 households with children in temporary accommodation at quarter end, 31 were recorded as accommodated in hostels, this will generally be James House which is designated accommodation for families. The remaining households were in ‘other’ accommodation which can include a private letting or housed in another LA district. Everyone who is homeless and in temporary accommodation will have a support worker to guide them through the process of finding and keeping future accommodation along with help for budgeting, debt advice, independent living skills, tenancy management and completion of actions on a personal housing plan. York continues to report no households with children housed in Bed and Breakfast accommodation at quarter end.
190. When looking at the total number of households in temporary accommodation per households in area (000s), York has seen a slight increase during 2024-25 but continues to perform positively compared to benchmarks (0.79 in York compared to 5.38 Nationally and 1.59 Regionally). Q1 2025-26 data will be available in November 2025.
191. Number of people sleeping rough – A monthly count of people sleeping rough takes place on the last Thursday of each month. Navigators carry out an early morning street walk checking known rough sleeping hot spots and responding to intelligence or reports of rough sleepers.
· The latest figure shows that there were 32 people sleeping rough in York in September 2025, which is an increase from 20 people in September 2024.
o Of the 32 people, 22 had no local connection (those who have no family or friends connection to York)
o 2 people were in the category of ‘Accommodation Available (Local Connection)’ – those where accommodation is available but hasn’t been returned to, this can be for a number of reasons including: substance abuse, intoxication, mental health, socialising/street drinking or seeking public donations in the night-time economy. The majority are from York or at least have a Local Connection to York via a family member.
o A further 9 people were in the category of ‘Actual Rough Sleeping (Local Connection)’ – those who are from York with no accommodation available or are not willing to accept accommodation.
193. A HMO is defined as an entire house, flat or converted building which is let to three or more persons who form two or more households and who share facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom and toilet.
195. An increase in the number of non-decent properties for York was anticipated following the commissioning of a Full Stock Condition Survey to be carried out on HRA housing stock during 2024. The extensive survey provided a range of information on the internal, external and communal safety and condition of each property. Around 6,400 (87%) council owned homes were inspected with the remainder being made a priority for 2025 onwards to continue improving information held and the quality of homes.
196. % of repairs completed on first visit – The percentage of repairs completed on the first visit was 82.2% in August 2025, which remains high and is comparable with 82.9% in 2024-25.
197. Number of void properties – There were 55 void properties at the end of March 2025, which is a slight increase from the 52 void properties at the end of March 2024. This figure has now increased to 78 at the end of August 2025 (although this is a decrease from 88 in July).
198. % of tenants satisfied that their landlord provides a home that is well maintained – In 2023-24 in York, 64% of tenants were satisfied that the landlord provides a well maintained home, which is one of the tenant satisfaction measures collected for the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH). The national figure for 2023-24 reported by RSH was 67%. Results from the 2024-25 Tenant Satisfaction Survey show a reduction in this area with 56% of respondents reporting that they were satisfied. National figures for 2024-25 are due for publication and will be shared when available.
199. Combined with tenant feedback, data received from the 2024 stock condition survey, where around 87% of properties were physically inspected, provides further evidence for the council to assess the condition of homes and act on results. York continues to focus on key compliance rates for gas, fire, lift, asbestos and water hygiene safety across housing stock.
Performance - Sustainability: Cutting carbon, enhancing the environment for our future
200. Average of maximum annual mean Nitrogen Dioxide concentration recorded across three areas of technical breach – With the exception of 2024 (and 2020 during the pandemic), CYC’s air quality monitoring network has previously demonstrated sustained exceedances of the health-based nitrogen dioxide objective of 40µg/m3 in 3 areas of the city, namely Gillygate/Lord Mayor’s Walk, Blossom Street/Holgate Road and Rougier Street/George Hudson Street. These are referred to as ‘technical breach areas’ and fall within CYC’s Air Quality Management Area.
201. Whilst not all monitoring points within these areas were exceeding health-based standards, there has previously been at least one monitor at a point of relevant public exposure within each area that was above the annual mean objective of 40µg/m3. This indicator considers an average of the maximum annual mean concentrations of NO2 in these three areas.
202. As can be seen from the graph above:
· Projections undertaken for CYC’s Fourth Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP4) suggested that it might take until 2026-27 for this indicator to fall below 40µg/m3. However, the rate of improvement observed in York between 2022-2024 has significantly exceeded that observed in earlier years from 2012-2022 (which was around 2.5% improvement a year over 10 years).
· The AQAP4 target was met in 2024 and the indicator is well within the 40µg/m3 health-based objective. This is a positive result.
203. Measures such as the introduction of further electric buses (and other types of electric vehicle) across the network have undoubtedly contributed to this success. In line with commitments in AQAP4, CYC aims to improve air quality further in all areas to improve public health.
205. Level of CO2 emissions across the city and from council buildings and operations – Emissions associated with council operations have been reducing across every category we measure, due to the work underway to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings and fleet electrification. However, improvements to the scope and accuracy of our reporting methodology mean that new emissions are now being recorded, resulting in an overall increase in reported operational emissions. Fully understanding our emissions is an important step in managing and mitigation our impact. Further details are available here: https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s179414/Report.pdf. City-wide emissions have experienced a small increase in 2021, following post-covid restrictions. While this rebound is not unexpected, emissions have not returned to pre-covid levels following the long-term trend of emissions reduction since 2005. The rate of reduction over this time, however, is not sufficient to meet our net zero by 2030 ambition and significant emissions reductions are needed over the remaining years. Further details are available here: https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s179439/EMDS_City%20Wide%20Emissions%202024.pdf
206. % of Talkabout panel satisfied with their local area as a place to live – The first bi-annual resident satisfaction survey taken by the Talkabout panel took place during Q1 2025-26. Results from the Q1 2025-26 Talkabout survey showed that 79% of the panel were satisfied with York as a place to live, a one percentage point decrease from the previous survey. 82% were satisfied with their local area, a 2% increase from the previous round.
207. % of Talkabout panel who give unpaid help to any group, club or organisation – Results from the Q1 2025-26 Talkabout survey found that 64% of panellists had given unpaid help to any group, club or organisation within the last 12 months. The government's Community Life Survey 2023-24 recorded that 54% had taken part in either formal or informal volunteering at least once in the last 12 months.
209. Adding these figures to the 150 standards and 2,516 whips planted during 2023-24 (fully supported by £75,000 external grant funding) brings the total number of trees delivered during the current Council Plan period to 5,371, exceeding, ahead of time, the Council’s commitment to plant 4,000 additional trees by March 2028 to address the climate and nature emergencies.
210. Spring 2025 across England was the driest since 1893, with all areas receiving well below average rainfall. The challenging conditions has led to a higher number of trees than normal failing to establish successfully. The council’s contractor will re-stock failed trees later this year in line with contract requirements to maintain target outputs.
Performance - How the council will operate
212. FOI and EIR – % of requests responded to in-time (YTD) – 96.5% of FOI and EIR requests were responded to in-time during August 2025. This figure remains high.
213. % of 4Cs complaints responded to in-time – There has been a large decrease in the number of corporate complaints received over recent years with 1,054 received in 2024-25 (compared to 1,310 in 2023-24 and 1,866 in 2022-23). This decrease has continued into 2025-26, with 338 complaints received up to the end of August (compared to 440 in the corresponding period last year). The percentage of corporate complaints responded to in time during 2024-25 was 70.1% which is a large decrease from 85.5% in 2023-24. However, the figures were lower during the start of the year but had increased in the second half. The latest August 2025 figure was 81.3% showing a continued improvement.
215. Average sickness days per full time equivalent (FTE) employee – At the end of August 2025, the average number of sickness days per FTE (rolling 12 months) had increased to 11.7 days from 11.6 in August 2024, although the latest figure is a reduction from 12 days at the end of March 2025. The latest benchmarks show that the CIPD public sector benchmark is 13.3 days per FTE, putting us below national trends.
216. York Customer Centre average speed of answer – Phones were answered, on average, in 2 minutes and 47 seconds during Q2 2025-26 by the York Customer Centre. This is slower than in 2024-25 (42 seconds) but comparable with the previous few years. Call volumes have increased in the last year mainly due to garden waste calls.
Consultation Analysis
217. Not applicable
Options Analysis and
Evidential Basis
218. Not applicable
Organisational
Impact and Implications
219. The recommendations in the report potentially have implications across several areas. However, at this stage
· Financial implications are contained throughout the main body of the report. The actions and recommendations contained in this report should ensure the continued financial stability and resilience of the Council both in the current year and in future years.
· Human Resources (HR), there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Legal The Council is under a statutory obligation to set a balanced budget on an annual basis. Under the Local Government Act 2003 it is required to monitor its budget during the financial year and take remedial action to address overspending and/or shortfalls of income.
· Procurement, there are no specific procurement implications to this report.
· Health and Wellbeing, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Environment and Climate action, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Affordability, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Equalities and Human Rights, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Data Protection and Privacy, there are no implications related to the recommendations.
· Communications, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
·
Economy, there are no direct implications related to the
recommendations.
Risks and Mitigations
220. An assessment of risks is completed as part of the annual budget setting exercise. These risks are managed effectively through regular reporting and corrective action being taken where necessary and appropriate.
Wards Impacted
221. All.
Contact details
For further information please contact the authors of this report.
Author
|
Name: |
Debbie Mitchell |
|
Job Title: |
Director of Finance |
|
Service Area: |
Finance |
|
Telephone: |
Ext 4161 |
|
Report approved: |
Yes |
|
Date: |
19/08/2025 |
Co-author
|
Name: |
Ian Cunningham |
|
Job Title: |
Head of Business Intelligence |
|
Service Area: |
Finance |
|
Telephone: |
Ext 5749 |
Annexes
Annex 1: Q2 Performance Tables - City Outcomes and Council Delivery Indicators 2023-2027
Annex 2: Council Plan Annual Update 2025