Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Helen Rowbottom.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Stala Antoniades (who entered the meeting at 7.08pm) and Councillor Rebecca Harvey (who entered at 7.15pm).

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

Councillor Natalia Perez declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 4 as a Trustee of Hammersmith United Charities.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions.

An action sheet from the previous meeting is attached for information.

The Chair noted that an update on actions from the previous meeting was attached to the minutes for information.

RESOLVED

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 May 2025 were agreed as an accurate record.

This is the fourth in a series of reports to the Policy and Oversight Board on H&F’s Cost of Living response programme. Together with Appendix 1, it provides an overview of activity from 2022/23 to 2024/25 and outlines the strategy for 2025/26. The report highlights the Council’s continued commitment to supporting residents through economic hardship with a compassionate, data-informed, and financially efficient approach.

Matthew Sales (Assistant Director, Programmes, Assurance and Analytics) introduced the item, noting that this was the fourth in a series of reports to the Policy and Oversight Board on H&F’s Cost of Living response programme. The report highlighted the Council’s continued commitment to supporting residents through economic hardship with a compassionate, data-informed, and financially efficient approach.

Matthew Sales gave a short presentation on the Council’s cost of living response. The Board also invited Louise Wilson (CEO, H&F Giving), Phil Storey (CEO, H&F Foodbank), Sarah Lumgair (CEO, People Arise Now), Bathsheba Mall (Programme Lead), Christine Chung (Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Lead), and Joseph Pascual (Service Lead for H&F Supporting Vulnerable Communities) to contribute to the discussion.

Councillor Jacolyn Daly asked what percentage of households in the borough had benefitted from the schemes highlighted in the report. Matthew Sales said there had been 76,000 awards of help delivered to residents across 25 different schemes, some internal, some delivered by external partners. He said there was no single data system across all of the schemes so it would be challenging to know exactly how many households were affected. He noted that the Cost of Living Advice team took 43,000 calls up to March 2025 and had helped 19,000 residents.

Councillor Daly asked if the lack of guaranteed funding from central government in previous years meant there had been less investment in processes and systems than if there had been a clear, longer-term commitment. Matthew Sales said it had. Of the five grants, four had been for just six months which made it difficult to do long-term planning. He welcomed the current Government’s one year funding commitment and plans for a new crisis and resilience fund to replace the household support fund, which would give Councils more certainty over funding and more flexibility to decide how best to utilise the money.

Councillor Natalia Perez welcomed the report and thanked the members of the Cost of Living Alliance for their work. She then asked for more information on the Department for Work and Pensions’ monitoring visit mentioned in the report. Matthew Sales said the Department for Work and Pensions funded the Household Support Fund. They carried out a routine visit in 2024, looking at the Council’s strategy, how grants were administered, and spoke to three of the scheme’s leads. After the visit they concluded that, “Compassion is at the heart of (H&F’s) approach… Those involved in delivery were passionate about using the fund to provide the right help for those who needed it, in a well-rounded and thought-through way.”

Councillor Perez asked if there were any recommendations from the visit. Matthew Sales said there were no recommendations and that the visit was more of a quality and assurance check. He noted there was also a wider evaluation commissioned nationally which reported earlier in the year, that was based on Household Support Fund 4 (2023-24). One of the key recommendations was to increase the emphasis on prevention  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report sets out the findings following a Finance Peer Challenge conducted of the Council in April 2025.

James Newman (Assistant Director – Finance and Deputy Section 151 Officer) introduced the report which set out the findings of the Finance Peer Challenge conducted in April 2025. He then gave a presentation on the feedback from the Peer Challenge team. He noted the Peer Challenge had been carried out by a team of highly experienced elected members and senior officers from other authorities. The review covered the following elements: financial leadership, financial strategy, planning and forecasting, decision-making, financial outcomes, and partnership and innovation.

The Peer Challenge found that the Council:

• had highly visible and effective political and officer leadership;
• was ambitious and financially well-run, that the organisation’s financial track-record had enabled investment in clear political priorities;
• had a strong track-record in commissioning and contract managing external services;
• demonstrated leadership and effective working with public and private sector partners, including on economic growth, and had important lessons for the wider sector; and
• contained some differing perceptions of its transformation approach and activity, which could be better articulated across the organisation.

Councillor Rowan Ree (Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform) addressed the Board and noted that the Council valued the opportunity to hear from the experts in the peer review team. He said the Council was open to challenge and fresh perspectives. He noted that news about local government finances was often negative and he hoped that this review helped reassure residents that H&F’s finances were well managed. He thanked everyone who was involved in the review process for their time and hard work.

Councillor Rory Vaughan congratulated members and officers on the outcome of the peer review. He said the positive feedback from experts in the field was very encouraging. He then asked the following questions:

• How was the action plan put together?
• How does this fit into the Council’s transformation agenda?
• How does this feed into the budget process for next year?

James Newman, noted that the action plan was available in the pack. Regarding the transformation agenda, he said officers were looking at how to incorporate this into existing structures and create capacity within existing functions. The Chair noted that a report on the Council’s transformation work would be coming to a future meeting.

Councillor Rory Vaughan asked that consideration be given to general finance training for scrutiny members ahead of the budget scrutiny in the Autumn to help them understand the process. James Newman said officers had looked at arranging audit training through CIPFA and noted the LGA also had good resources for members.

Councillor Stala Antoniades asked if officers had looked at other boroughs regarding transformation and what the key lessons were. James Newman said officers had looked at other councils’ transformation journeys. They had recently participated in a transformation workshop with Ealing and Greenwich where they discussed how they set up teams, central functions vs devolved functions, culture change, and how to build capacity to deliver change.

Matthew Sales said the Council had a long record of transformation and highlighted the Resident Engagement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

For the Board to discuss the work programme.

The Board’s draft work programme was presented for discussion and noting.

RESOLVED

1. The Board noted the draft work programme.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·       17 Sept 2025

·       24 Nov 2025

·       4 Feb 2026

·       29 April 2026

The following dates of future meetings were noted:

• 17 September 2025
• 24 November 2025
• 4 February 2026
• 29 April 2026