Loading
On 23 February 2026 the Community and Adult Services Scrutiny Committee examined proposals for the Corporate Plan 2026/29, the 2026/27 budget and the portfolios of six Cabinet Members, as part of pre-decision scrutiny (members review proposals before the Cabinet decides on them). The Committee agreed to write to each Cabinet Member with its observations, and the minutes record no other decisions. Members questioned Cabinet Members and officers on budget savings, adult care, housing, homelessness and libraries.
Apologies were received from Cllrs Littlechild and Owen, as well as from Grace Lee (Youth Council), Cllr Sangani (Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Public Health and Equality), Sarah McGill (Corporate Director, People and Communities) and David Jaques (Assistant Director, Development and Regeneration).
The following declarations of interest were received in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct. Councillor Item Nature of interest Reason Sue Lent 4 Personal Adult son with a learning disability Bablin Molik 4 Personal CEO of Sight Cymru, which provides a commissioned service for the council
The minutes of the 19th January meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Members were provided with context for the pre-decision scrutiny of sections of the draft Corporate Plan 2026/29 and draft Budget Proposals 2026/27 relating to council services that fell within the Committee’s Terms of Reference. For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Chris Weaver Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation & Performance Chris Lee Corporate Director, Resources Ian Allwood Head of Finance The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, in which he noted that the Corporate Plan and Budget were prepared side by side and supported each other. The settlement received from the Welsh government had been greater than expected, with an uplift of 4.2% for Cardiff, but it was not a growth budget as there was still a £22.6m gap and savings needed to balance the budget. Despite this, Cardiff continued to have the lowest Band D council tax in Wales. He noted that Adult Services, Children’s Services and education were areas of growing spend, reflecting increased demand and need, with £9m extra being allocated to Adult Services, a 4.9% increase. The Financial Resilience Mechanism was also being used for one-off spends including highways and street cleansing, in response to extensive public consultation. He was pleased that there were no frontline service cuts to consult on, and considered the proposals to be an affordable, balanced set of investments in the city and the council’s Stronger, Fairer, Greener agenda. Officers gave a presentation providing further detail, noting that the Corporate Plan was underpinned by four key documents: the Revenue & Capital Budget, the Medium Term Financial Plan, the Capital Strategy and the Treasury Strategy. The HRA Business Plan was also particularly relevant to the Committee as it enabled the council’s housing pipeline. They added that the overall settlement was for a £28.8m cash increase, with Cardiff’s 4.2% rise slightly below the Welsh average of 4.2% due to the restatement of population figures. The Shared Prosperity Fund had been replaced with the three-year Local Growth Fund, with Cardiff’s indicative £10.7m a reduction of £3.3m on the previous SPF allocation. In all, the council had £967.2m of resources available and could reach a balanced position with savings of £14.8m. Officers explained that key pressures were expected to total £56m, including £6m from pay inflation and £14m from price inflation. Particular demand pressures were faced in Adult Social Services (£3.1m), Children’s Services (£3.4m) and ALN home to school transport routes (£640k), as well as £8.5m additional ALN demand across special schools and SRBs. The proposed savings were broken down into £11.2m of efficiency and income savings, including an £8m reduction in external spend and premises costs and £4.96m through increased income and grant maximisation. Consultation with the public had resulted in 2,760 responses on budget priorities, with key themes identified including education and supporting vulnerable children, families and adults. One-off sums totalling £4.5m had been allocated through the Financial Resilience Mechanism to a number of priority areas, primarily highway maintenance and street cleansing, but also neighbourhood regeneration, child friendly initiatives and sport development grant schemes. The General Fund reserve would stay exactly where it was, though a likely aggregate deficit in schools’ balances meant it was important to agree deliverable deficit recovery plans. The HRA General Reserve would decrease from £16m to £15m, but HRA earmarked reserves would remain at £7.5m. Moving onto the Medium Term Financial Plan for 2027/28 to 2030/31, officers estimated pressures of £227.8m and funding of £60.6m. Modelling council tax at 4.95% as a three year rolling average, they noted that roughly £124m of savings would be needed to balance the budget. The Capital Strategy for 2026/27 set out their approach to delivering this through asset management planning, their treasury management strategy and their approach to borrowing. The capital investment programme would be kept as stable as possible, with key projects including the new core offices and ERP, and road and footpath resurfacing. Officers highlighted schemes funded by grants and contributions and invest to save, which formed the main bulk of the £735m projected to be spent over 5 years. The treasury management position as of January 2026 was of £1.1bn of council borrowing and investments. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members explored the consultation process and heard that while the response rate was lower than last year, the Cabinet Member felt this was largely because there were no frontline service cuts. Officers explained that engagement was mostly undertaken online but also in Hubs and libraries, and the underlying data was analysed to identify groups and demographics that weren’t responding proportionally and target outreach accordingly. The response rate was relatively high for a local authority consultation, and they felt it gave a robust and accurate picture of the city. Members asked about response rates among people with disabilities and those over 55, and heard that this was broken down by demographic in the report. Members noted the importance of Shared Prosperity Funding to a number of areas relevant to the Committee. Officers explained that while the overall amount of replacement funding was lower, a base budget of £2.25m had been put in to help support these areas, and a further £1.5m from temporary sources, and they were confident that this mitigated any risks. Members asked whether the dual increase of council tax and service charges would unfairly impact on pension-aged residents. The Cabinet Member acknowledged the need to find the appropriate balance between the cost of living and maintaining service provision, and emphasised that Cardiff’s relatively low council tax rise would provide £8m extra funding for the provision of council services. Members discussed the Corporate Plan aim for Cardiff to be a great place to grow older, and highlighted public toilet provision as a key part of this. Officers noted that while no funding had been earmarked directly for this, they saw fundraising opportunities within the visitor levy as improving toilets would clearly benefit visitors too. Lots of businesses had toilets which members of the public could use but didn’t necessarily advertise it, while the bus station had added some new toilets with limited opening hours. Members advocated improved provision all across the city rather than just in the city centre, in particular close to parks and community areas. Members explored support for bus services, noting that this was a recurring theme they heard from older people. The Cabinet Member emphasised that while the council did not run Cardiff Bus or the private companies that operated services, they did what they could as an authority to support bus travel by putting in bus lanes, and there were no cuts to bus services in the budget. The wider capital program made commitments to improving the bus corridor, and they would work closely with the Welsh government as franchising came in to provide a comprehensive service across the city. Members noted the specific KPI for ethnic minority access to Into Work services and asked whether this could also be monitored for ethnic minority access to Adult Services. The Cabinet Member agreed this would be helpful, and noted that it was already recorded for Into Work as part of the recommendations of the Race Equality Task Force. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Part of an issue followed across 11 meetings
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Leonora Thomson Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Public Health & Equality Jane Thomas Director of Adults, Housing & Communities Louise Bassett Assistant Director, Adult Services The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, in which she outlined progress across a wide range of activities despite the many pressures faced. The Corporate Plan set out how the service area would continue this progress, including Cardiff’s drive to become an age-friendly and dementia-friendly city, with the Ageing Wales strategy to be refreshed this year and a new Housing With Care Scheme opening at Llys Y Goetre in St Mellons focused on maintaining independence. She emphasised the increased complexity of demand that the service faced and the need to continue support for unpaid carers, both in terms of expanding help available and identifying more of them. She was pleased with improvements to recruitment and retention in social work, with vacancies in Q3 below the 12% target. A refreshed Adult Services Workforce Strategy would come to the committee soon, while the recommissioning of care provision would be a key project, as would service redesigns based on comprehensive needs analysis. The service also sought to ensure that residential and domiciliary care were fit for the future, with changes to immigration rules posing a huge challenge across the care sector. Cardiff had become the first council in Wales and the second in the UK to adopt a Migrant Workers Charter, and now the job was to embed that work into their arrangements and to strengthen Cardiff Cares Academy. Officers gave a presentation providing further detail, noting that most of the savings in the portfolio this year were efficiencies within the service development plan for Adult Services. Price inflation of £8.3m was a key pressure on the £177m base budget, in particular due to uplifts for care providers, and there had been some realignments due to grants affected by Shared Prosperity Funding. Growth in demand was estimated to cost a further £3.13m, and they had found savings of £3.5m altogether. The net budget had increased by £8.6m, or 4.9% overall. They added that the Adult Services Service Development Plan for 2025-30 contained a £1m corporate contingency to allow flexibility. Cardiff faced rising demand and growing complexity of need, and this would be an ambitious five year plan to reshape adult social care. Key themes of the efficiencies identified ahead of 2025/26 had included commissioning, prevention, reablement and right-sizing, seeking alternative forms of care and full cost recovery, and these proposals continued that approach. Officers highlighted the importance of improving the range of supported living options as an alternative to residential care, as this allowed them to ‘step down’ individuals when it was appropriate. The council’s property pipeline allowed them to improve the range, quality and number of supported living schemes, with various schemes coming forward, and helped prevent out-of-area placements for individuals with high needs. 12 new specialist housing schemes were being developed, with 620 units in all, and in addition to the St Mellons Housing With Care scheme, Addison House in Rumney was fully occupied, while T?’r Groes in Leckwith was complete with tenants currently moving in. The service continued to take a whole system approach to prevention, with many cases resolved through information and advice or referred to the Wellbeing Service for a home visit. 32% of cases referred to an occupational therapist avoided care through alternative solutions like aids and equipment, and effective triage at Stage 2 reduced the amount of care needed and associated costs. They highlighted CRT Homecare reablement in particular, noting that 68% of clients required no long-term care after using the service while 99% were satisfied with it. Officers added that they continued to expand the Reablement First approach, feeding into commissioned domiciliary care providers through intensive joint training. They were reviewing high-cost packages of care (i.e. those which cost more than £1,200 a week) and identifying potential alternatives, and were introducing an older persons’ gateway in housing. Over the next twelve months they would undertake a deep-dive review of physical disability services, on the basis that they felt they could provide more in-house at a lower cost. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members explored the expansion of reablement and heard that the in-house CRT provision currently helped individuals who had been assessed as suitable for reablement, but could be expanded so everyone went so everyone went through a period of reablement. A pilot scheme was ongoing at the moment and officers considered it could be a significant benefit, and could inform recommissioning as they went forward. Reablement was mainly focused on older people with physical needs that would otherwise require a long-term package of care, for instance helping them to wash and dress independently Members noted the high cost of taxis that were needed to enable people to access services, and asked how this cost could be reduced without harming that access. Officers acknowledged the significant cost and noted that they looked at journeys and individuals to identify potential doubling up. Travel training sought to help people get confident using public transport, and was a slow process but could deliver real benefits. Members suggested making pick-up times more flexible to avoid competing with school transport, which officers were happy to reflect on with education colleagues. Members queried whether charging for day services would negatively impact charities who might not be able to afford the fees, and heard that a new building would be developed in partnership with health colleagues, who could share joint costs. Members queried a line in the report which referred to gaining more than £500k from ‘maximising income opportunities’, and heard that this meant making best use of grant funding to reduce other costs, as well as ensuring they were getting the right contributions from health towards packages of care. Members asked whether officers were concerned that rising costs for domiciliary care and increased council tax would have a disproportionate impact on older residents, and heard that following a broad consultation several years ago, adult social care had been moving in a phased way towards a cost recovery model. Domiciliary care was limited to £100 a week, and a needs assessment was undertaken before anyone was charged in order to consider the impact on the individual as well on the service. Members noted the recurring concern from residents that they might have to sell their home in order to afford care, and heard that this was the case for some due to the national position of paid-for social care. Members explored the KPIs which related to Cardiff being an age-friendly city and heard that engagement was key, with the Day Opportunities team seeking to identify those who were isolated and physically taking them to wellbeing events and other things they wouldn’t otherwise go to. Self-referral at Hubs was part of this, but they could always do more to promote events. Members noted the importance of widening the net and ensuring wellbeing events weren’t only attracting the same the people each time. Members asked whether attendance of ethnic minority residents, or those who had English as a second language, was recorded, and heard that the officers had committed to doing more monitoring over the next year, though they cautioned that this needed to be light touch and not too off-putting, as people tended to not want to fill in a form every time they came. Members queried whether changes to immigration law would have an effect on the improved social care vacancy rate, and heard that these were separate groups. The vacancy target was for social workers whose training and pay the council controlled, rather than care workers, only a few of whom were employed through the council via the CRT service, and the majority of whom were with external providers. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chair noted that Cllr Sangani (Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Public Health & Equality) had sent apologies and asked for any questions to be provided to her in writing. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members asked how marginalised groups were defined within in the report, and heard that this related to groups who traditionally had difficulty accessing mainstream services, such as homeless people. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Peter Bradbury Cabinet Member for Childrens Services, Tackling Poverty & Supporting Young People Jane Thomas Director of Adults, Housing & Communities Helen Evans Assistant Director, Housing & Communities The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, in which he reported positive progress across the portfolio area. Despite the loss of SPF funding, £700k in core service funding had been secured, leading to no job losses and the safeguarding of Money Advice. The headline figures included 7,000 people being supported by the advice line, 50,000 calls in total and £14m additional benefits identified for residents. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members asked about changes within the service and heard that a review of operational delivery had been undertaken in order to ensure that services were maintained after SPF funding was lost. The benefit assessment team had been restructured due to the Universal Credit migration, as caseload numbers for housing benefit fell. The Cabinet Member emphasised that the transition to £700k core funding within the base budget would allow for long-term stability, and they would look at lower footfall areas to make up the £300k gap between that and the SPF figure. Members noted that £301k was being taken from the Empty Homes Reserve to support the money advice team, and heard that this was considered best use of the funds as money advice was relevant to homelessness prevention. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Lynda Thorne Cabinet Member for Housing & Communities Jane Thomas Director of Adults, Housing & Communities Helen Evans Assistant Director, Housing & Communities The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, in which she reported real progress in responding to the housing emergency, with the council having ended the use of leased hotels in December. Pressures remained and they needed to keep moving forward to reduce the revolving door of homelessness, recommissioning targeted wraparound interventions like the floating support service and the young person’s accommodation mediation service to help people maintain long-term tenancies. Rough sleeping numbers were slightly above the 2025/26 targets, in part due to there being more people in Cardiff with no recourse to public funds. She added that they were ensuring new homes met needs, with a large amount of older persons’ accommodation being built and 2,800 new affordable homes by 2035. 331 new council homes had been delivered already this year, and the council was equally committed to investing in making its existing stock safe, warm and comfortable, focusing improvements on properties below SAP 50. Safety was paramount, especially in high-risk blocks, and while it had been a challenging year for the responsive repairs unit, substantial progress had been made and performance on urgent and routine repairs had improved. The Dry Homes team had been established to tackle damp and mould cases, which had been reduced by 69%. Officers gave a presentation providing further detail, noting that the Repairs Improvement Plan had reduced unallocated jobs by 88% since 2024 and helped to improve the quality and speed of repairs. They highlighted a new addendum to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard which required the service to investigate and remedy 28 of the 29 hazards set out in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. While damp and mould were expected to be included in this, many others were not and had strict timescales attached, so investment into the service was crucial. Officers also highlighted significant investment into the Dry Homes team, with new roles created including a technical manager and two dedicated casework coordinators, in order to ensure a robust case management approach and reduce reliance on more expensive external contractors, and the overhaul of the IT system was underway. £1.1m was being invested in housing management and customer services, in particular tenancy services and anti-social behaviour teams. Complaint handling had been enhanced, focusing on a more proactive approach and greater visibility. The new Housing Customer Excellence Unit would be launched in 2026, providing leadership on best practice and wider service improvement, and supported by new Senior Housing Communications Manager with oversight of housing complaints. Moving onto homelessness, officers noted that the use of leased hotels had ended in December, but demand remained high with 571 families in temporary accommodation as well as 930 single people and 245 young people. This was partly due to early release schemes for prisoners, so they were investing in two new officers to focus specifically on this. Two new Young People Prevention Officers would also be recruited in response to an increase in Notices to Quit among young people. Officers highlighted major changes in the pipeline to Wales’ homelessness and allocation systems due to the Homelessness & Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Bill. The bill aimed to prevent homelessness earlier, giving public services new legal responsibilities and abolishing tests like priority need and intentionality so more people would qualify for help. The changes would be introduced in phases between 2027 and 2031, with additional one-year temporary funding for 2026/26 to assist with pre-implementation activities. Officers noted that two posts had been recruited to support this planning, and while Cardiff was advanced in some areas, others would see significant changes, and the bill would impact every element of homelessness services. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members noted the proposal to let vacant posts in the landlord enquiries team enquire, and heard that these posts had been vacant for some time. Officers were rethinking how the lets team was working and would look at where prevention money was best directed. Members asked for more information about the new posts and heard that they were generally operative and front-facing roles that already existed, with those recruited providing additional capacity. Members queried the progress of the full Adult Services staff structure and heard that this was nearly finished, and would be provided in due course. Members discussed the provision of solar panels on older properties, noting that a number of Housing Association properties seemed to be getting them recently. Officers explained that they had a program doing this at the moment, mostly focusing on bungalows as they were the least energy efficient. 100 properties were lined up for this over the next year, but it was difficult planned to build that into the capital program without confirmed Welsh government funding. Members noted the importance of reducing energy costs and asked that the service explore funding possibilities. Members explored housing KPIs and asked whether targets to build council homes could be reflected in targets for the waiting list as well. Officers explained that it was difficult to put a figure on the waiting list as anyone could join it at any time, and building 250 homes would not necessarily reduce the list by the same number. Members queried the criteria used for the waiting list and heard that it was a constantly changing picture based on individual need. Members asked how the service’s modelling and monitoring processes took the scale of the council’s building program into account, and suggested a possible KPI linked to the number of people on the housing waiting list who received council homes. Members asked how empty properties were brought back into use, and heard that while the council had successfully done this for about 170 homes last year, it could often be tricky as people had their own reasons for keeping their property empty. The private sector was key, with council tax premiums also having an impact, and a working party had been set up across various service areas to look closely at the issue. Members asked about changes to community safety, and heard that there were no reductions in that service proposed in the budget. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Lee Bridgeman Cabinet Member for Housing & Communities Jane Thomas Director of Adults, Housing & Communities Helen Evans Assistant Director, Housing & Communities The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, in which he welcomed positive progress in Hubs and libraries and a high satisfaction rate for the service. He emphasised their importance in keeping people connected and active, and the need to continue opening new schemes to maintain this work. The new Ty Groes scheme in Riverside was opening in the coming weeks, and a new Hubs and Libraries Strategy would be launched with a greater focus on family history and wellbeing events as well as income opportunities such as venue hire. The service was also exploring more evening and Sunday use so residents could use the facilities when it suited them best. Members were invited to ask questions and make comments; the discussion is summarised below. Members asked how the increase in volunteer hours matched up with a reduction in staffing. Officers clarified that this related to the funding for volunteer mentors, which was uncertain until very recently but would now continue to be supported. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
There were none.
Monday 16th March at 4:30pm.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Sue Lent: Personal interest on Corporate Overview
Her adult son has a learning disability.
Bablin Molik: Personal interest on Corporate Overview
Chief Executive of Sight Cymru, which provides a commissioned service for the council.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.