Sandwell Cabinet: 45 Minutes, Millions at Risk and Where Was the Debate?
I've now had a proper look through the official minutes of Sandwell Council's Cabinet meeting held on 9 September 2026.
And I have a problem.
Actually, I have several.
I want this new Reform administration to work. I want it to challenge the culture it inherited, get a proper grip on the Council and deliver the change people voted for.
But wanting them to succeed doesn't mean sitting quietly when the warning lights are flashing.
And there are enough warning lights in these papers to illuminate Oldbury.
The meeting started at 3.30pm and finished at 4.15pm.
Forty-five minutes.
In attendance were the Leader, Cabinet Members, eight other councillors, young people's representatives and a sizeable collection of senior officers. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
In those 45 minutes Cabinet dealt with eight substantive agenda items covering huge financial, social care, SEND, community safety, procurement and children's services issues.
And having read the minutes, my overriding question is:
WHERE WAS THE DEBATE?
£34.7 MILLION SEND OVESPEND — RECEIVED AND MOVED ON
Let's start with probably the biggest financial warning.
The Council's Quarter 1 financial position forecasts a £34.7 MILLION overspend in the Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs Block because demand for SEND services continues to increase beyond budgeted levels. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
That isn't £34,700.
It isn't £3.47m.
£34.7 MILLION.
Meanwhile the headline General Fund position is presented as a comparatively modest £623,000 overspend and described as remaining manageable. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
So what did Cabinet actually resolve on this enormous financial report?
Essentially:
Received.
Send it to Budget and Corporate Scrutiny.
That's it. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
The minutes record no Cabinet Member challenging the £34.7m SEND position.
No recorded question about how this is brought under control.
No recorded demand for alternative financial scenarios.
No recorded additional action.
Now, minutes aren't transcripts. Something may have been said that wasn't recorded.
But that's precisely part of the problem.
If our elected executive is interrogating financial risks of this magnitude, shouldn't the official democratic record show us something of that challenge?
Enhanced Assessment Beds: This One Really Bothers Me
Here's a timeline that deserves explaining.
11 March 2026: Cabinet approves procurement of replacement Enhanced Assessment Bed arrangements.
Existing contracts expire:
30 September 2026.
New contracts were intended to begin:
1 October 2026.
Seems straightforward enough.
Except September arrives and:
“It had not been possible to complete the necessary procurement and mobilisation activity within that original timetable.” Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Why?
The minutes tell us more time was needed to finish the service specification, contractual provisions, evaluation methodology, pricing arrangements and market-facing documentation. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Hang on.
Those aren't unexpected acts of God.
They're fairly fundamental parts of organising a procurement.
So Cabinet was asked to approve a nine-month extension of the existing arrangements from October until June at an estimated cost of £659,686.40. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
But it doesn't stop there.
The replacement contracts could be worth up to £2.91m.
Cabinet also agreed that the contract could be awarded where fewer than the normally prescribed minimum number of tenders are received.
And substantial authority to complete the procurement and award the contracts was delegated to officers. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Let's be clear.
Maintaining these beds is essential. Nobody sensible is suggesting vulnerable people should lose services because the Council couldn't get its procurement completed.
But surely somebody around that Cabinet table should have been asking:
WHY WASN'T IT READY?
Who was responsible?
When did officers know the timetable was slipping?
When was the Cabinet Member informed?
Why were basic procurement documents still being developed?
What assurance is there that the new July 2027 deadline won't slip?
And what lessons have been learned?
The minutes record none of that.
🔴 RED FLAG.
Delegation, Delegation and a Bit More Delegation
Another theme running through these decisions concerns me.
Cabinet approves the broad proposal.
Then officers get substantial authority to do the rest.
Take funeral services.
Cabinet delegated authority to the Executive Director for Finance and Transformation to run the procurement and award and enter into the resulting agreements covering the four years from January 2027 to December 2030. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Cabinet even approved any exemption required following the procurement process, subject of course to the Council's rules and delegations. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Interestingly, keeping responsibility for awarding the contract with Cabinet was specifically considered — and rejected because it would add another decision-making stage and reduce procurement flexibility. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Efficient?
Perhaps.
But democracy can sometimes be inconvenient.
That's rather the point.
If Reform came into office to get a stronger political grip on Sandwell Council, it needs to be careful it doesn't end up rubber-stamping the destination and handing the steering wheel straight back to officers.
Sandwell Is Now Taking Responsibility for a Regional Programme
Then we have the West Midlands Regional Care Cooperative.
This could be a good initiative.
Councils collaborating to improve placements for children, increase fostering capacity and get greater influence over a difficult and expensive market makes considerable sense.
But look at what Sandwell has agreed.
The Council will become:
Lead Local Authority AND accountable body.
Cabinet agreed in principle to accept up to £1.7m of Department for Education funding, plus up to £817,440 for the Room Makers Programme. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Then comes the delegation.
Senior officers can negotiate and enter into:
partnership agreements;
collaboration agreements;
data-sharing arrangements;
governance agreements;
financial-management arrangements;
and take other actions necessary to implement the programme. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
That's a substantial amount of detail being decided after Cabinet has left the room.
My questions are straightforward.
What financial liability does Sandwell carry as accountable body?
What happens if another authority fails to deliver?
What happens if grant conditions aren't met?
Could Sandwell face clawback?
What additional staff are required?
Who audits this?
What happens when DfE funding ends?
And crucially:
Will the final governance and financial arrangements come back before elected councillors?
They should.
Community Safety — Now Show Us the Results
Cabinet also approved Sandwell's Community Safety Strategy 2026–2030.
It covers serious violence, violence against women and girls, exploitation, modern slavery, anti-social behaviour, hate crime, radicalisation, extremism, organised crime and repeat victimisation. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
The minutes tell us activity will be evidence-led and focused on:
“measurable outcomes.” Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Excellent.
Then let's measure them.
I want residents to be able to see whether ASB is reducing.
Whether repeat victimisation is falling.
Whether enforcement is increasing.
Whether serious violence is reducing.
Whether victims are more satisfied.
And importantly, what is happening ward by ward.
Otherwise we will have another strategy, another launch, another press release and another PDF quietly gathering electronic dust.
Care-Experienced Young People — Something Doesn't Quite Add Up
This is particularly interesting.
The Children's Services and Education Scrutiny Board produced 32 recommendations following its review of the transition to adulthood for care-experienced young people.
There is some good and challenging work here.
The recommendations include mandatory annual Corporate Parenting training for councillors. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
They include additional Personal Advisers. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
They include exploring a dedicated youth hub. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
They include joined-up commissioning and quality assurance between Children's and Adult Services. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
But the Cabinet minute says Cabinet must respond to the Board within two months, setting out which recommendations are agreed and giving reasons for any that aren't. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
So they weren't all actually adopted there and then.
That two-month deadline needs watching.
November.
Put it in the diary.
Thirty-two recommendations went in.
Let's see exactly how many come back out.
And Then There's an HMO...
One recommendation jumped straight off the page at me.
Recommendation 10 asks Cabinet Members to explore purchasing properties to convert into:
Houses in Multiple Occupation
specifically for care-experienced young people. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Now there's an interesting one for Sandwell.
I've spent considerable time highlighting residents' concerns about HMOs — planning, licensing, concentration, management and enforcement.
The objective here is obviously different and worthwhile: providing suitable accommodation for young people leaving care.
But that doesn't mean the model shouldn't be challenged.
Where would these HMOs go?
How would they be managed?
Would they require planning permission?
What licensing requirements apply?
Would they have permanent support?
How would safeguarding work?
Would concentration in particular neighbourhoods be prevented?
And is an HMO actually the best accommodation model for vulnerable young people transitioning from care?
Good intention doesn't remove the need for good scrutiny.
The Elephant Sitting Around the Cabinet Table
And this brings me back to the thing that bothers me most.
Read these 16 pages of minutes and they look enormously detailed.
Until you notice what much of that detail actually is.
Again and again the structure is:
Approval was sought...
Reasons for Recommendations...
Alternative Options Considered...
Resolved...
For example, the Children and Young People's item moves directly from the report background into reasons, alternatives and the resolution. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
What I don't see much of is:
“Councillor X challenged...”
“The Cabinet Member asked...”
“The Executive Director responded...”
“Members expressed concern...”
“Cabinet requested further information...”
“The recommendation was amended...”
“The report was deferred...”
The minutes are very good at telling us what the officer reports contained.
They are considerably less good at showing us what our elected Cabinet actually did to interrogate them.
And remember:
THE WHOLE MEETING LASTED 45 MINUTES.
Reform Has to Be More Than a Change of Nameplate
This is where Reform needs to be very careful.
Many of the problems in these papers were inherited.
Let's be fair.
Reform didn't create Sandwell's SEND pressures in four months.
It didn't suddenly create the difficulties in children's social care.
It didn't invent decades of problems within Sandwell Council.
But Reform now controls the Council.
And therefore the question is no longer simply:
“What did Labour do?”
It is increasingly:
“What are YOU doing differently?”
Residents didn't vote for a new administration simply to watch officers put reports on the table, Cabinet approve them and delegated authority send the decisions back into the organisation.
Political leadership means challenging.
Questioning.
Testing assumptions.
Demanding evidence.
Sending weak reports back.
Holding officers accountable for missed deadlines.
Amending recommendations where necessary.
And being prepared occasionally to say:
NO. COME BACK WHEN YOU'VE ANSWERED OUR QUESTIONS.
Forty-Five Minutes Isn't Something to Boast About
Getting through Cabinet quickly isn't evidence of efficiency.
Not when the business includes:
🔴 £34.7m SEND High Needs overspending
🔴 a procurement timetable that wasn't delivered
🔴 a nine-month emergency/interim contract continuation
🔴 exemptions from procurement rules
🔴 multimillion-pound delegated contract awards
🔴 Sandwell becoming accountable body for a regional programme
🔴 a four-year Community Safety Strategy
🔴 and 32 recommendations concerning some of our most vulnerable young people.
The Council's own Treasury Management minute actually reminds us that the regulatory framework places responsibility on Members for review and scrutiny. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Quite.
So let's see some.
I Still Want Reform to Succeed
That's why I'm raising this.
I don't want another Sandwell administration where Cabinet becomes the final stop on an officer conveyor belt.
We've seen enough of that.
I don't want meetings where the destination appears predetermined and democratic process becomes little more than:
NOTED.
RECEIVED.
APPROVED.
DELEGATED.
NEXT.
Reform promised something different.
There is still plenty of time to deliver it.
But Cabinet needs to slow down.
Read.
Question.
Challenge.
Debate.
And occasionally disagree.
Because scrutiny isn't an obstacle to good government.
It is part of good government.
And when millions of pounds and services affecting some of Sandwell's most vulnerable residents are involved, 45 minutes simply doesn't give the public much confidence that the political challenge is as strong as it ought to be.
The next place to look is Budget and Corporate Scrutiny, because Cabinet formally sent the financial report there. Printed minutes 09092026 1530 C…
Let's hope the awkward questions were asked there.
Because somebody needs to ask them.
#Sandwell #SandwellCouncil #SandwellCabinet #ReformUK #SEND #CouncilFinance #Scrutiny #Governance #Transparency #Accountability #CommunitySafety #LocalGovernment
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