Annual Report (2022 to 2023)

There have been many great achievements throughout 2022 to 2023, however, we have had to overcome a few challenges along the way.

Some of these are new challenges arising from situations such as the war in Ukraine and inflationary pressures; whilst others remain challenges following the impact of the pandemic or more long term factors.

Many we will need to continue to address and overcome in future years.

These challenges have included:

There is an increased demand for adult social care services and increasing complexity of care needs, for example Buckinghamshire’s growth in demand is higher than other Local Authorities' in the South-East. From 2020-21 to 2021-22 Buckinghamshire reported a 46% increase in people making contact for care needs compared to the regional average of 16% growth. (Comparative data for 2022 to 2023 will be available in November).

Challenges in the NHS translate into social care demand as a person’s condition will usually deteriorate whilst waiting for health services and discharge from hospital.

There is a growing demand for temporary accommodation and housing and homelessness services following the end of the pandemic related emergency accommodation provisions.

The impact of the war in Ukraine and ongoing resettlement of eligible families from Afghanistan has led to an increase in refugees in the county which in turn has increased demand for housing across the county.

The impact of housing growth places greater demand on services such as waste collection and household recycling centres.

An increase in the number of referrals into children’s social care where the primary concern is child and/or parent mental health difficulties.

National infrastructure projects such as HS2 and East West Rail continue to have an impact in Buckinghamshire though increased traffic, damage to the highways network and environmental impacts.

The very cold weather that started in December, continued into January and February. Combined with very wet conditions, this led to unprecedented levels of defects being reported, which placed added pressure on our highways teams.

Rising inflation is impacting the delivery of capital projects and programmes due to increase in cost of construction materials.

More residents turning to the council for help and creating a pressure as resources have not increased to match demand.

There are national shortages of skills in a number of professions which have led to difficulties recruiting and retaining staff for some services, including Children’s and Adult Social Care, planning, teachers and teaching assistants and HGV drivers for waste collection.

For example, the vacancy rate in Adult Social Care is typically over 35%. Staff shortages within the wider care sector also places significant constraints on the supply and stability of both home and residential care.

The attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils post pandemic remains a challenge.

The pressure on schools and local authority resources to meet the increasing volume and complexity of pupils’ needs.