Agenda item

A report of the Head of Finance and Property Services to assist the Committee in monitoring the General Fund and HRA Revenue position (Period 7 2019/20).

Considered a report of the Head of Finance and Property Services to assist the Committee in monitoring the General Fund and HRA Revenue position (Period 7 2019/20) (item 7 on the agenda supplement filed with these minutes).

Assisting with consideration of the report: Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Property Services, Strategic Director of Corporate Services, Head of Finance and Property Services.

Summary, key points of discussion:

(i)      Nonspecific Savings Target of £300k, only £72.5k identified to date.  Was one-off this year, would be ongoing saving moving forward.  Overall, expected to end on budget for 2019/20. 

(ii)     All aware of urgency of position moving forward, £2.7m to be found over next 3 years, either from increasing income or reducing expenditure.  Reference to many uncertainties faced.

(iii)    Agenda supplement page 4, reference to £203,900 Budget Managed Vacancy Savings Salaries against £68,300 retained to cover agency costs.  Discussion regarding value for money (total amount spent on agency cover much less than total MVS), process of vacancies and recruitment over the year, savings that generated, never at full establishment, turnover greater in some roles, could take period to successfully recruit. 

(iv)    Agenda supplement page 5, Strategic and Private Sector Housing, confirmed that £50k underspend (£34k underspend Empty Homes legal fees and £22k additional licence fee income) was one-off, moved from base budget to earmarked reserve for use when needed by Head of Service.  

(v)     Agenda supplement page 6, Waste, Engineering and Open Spaces, discussion regarding Garden Waste Bin income shortfall and contractor performance, indicated as risk in report.  Number of factors affecting performance, not all within contractor’s control.  Recycling and factors affecting performance complex area, targets difficult to achieve.  View that increased cost of garden bin to customer may have affected income.

(vi)    Agenda supplement page 7, Customer Experience, reference to £42k overspend relating to loss of Housing Benefit Admin Subsidy Grant funding, forecast to be £72k by year end.  In response, reference to connection with roll out of Universal Credit, expectation that less process would mean less workload, not necessarily case, same checks needed for local council tax support as had been required for Housing Benefit.  Amount of grant not known until late stage.

(vii)   Agenda supplement page 7, Customer Experience, reference to £300k overspend Carpenters Arms and supported living Housing Benefit subsidy claim costs, forecast to be £515k by year end.  Demand-led.  National issue.  Universal Credit had meant that Council could only claim back some of costs, further explanation of which provided (vulnerability markers removed).  Representations to be made to address issue, requiring providers to register as Social Landlords would assist.  Important issue/risk for the Council, had developed quickly.  Was being looked into.

(viii)  Agenda supplement page 8, Community Grants, monies would be paid out, welcomed.

(ix)    Agenda supplement page 9, HRA, significant underspend at end October 2019, reference to issues with contractor, Head of Service had measures in place to ensure work undertaken and monies spent.  Question as to why no year end forecast for HRA (as for General Fund)?  In response, reference to agenda supplement page 10, appendix 3, year end forecast was underspend of £164k.

(x)     Agenda supplement page 10, reference to current large underspends on several Landlord Services functions, forecasting that much of that would be spent by year end, would that be possible?  In response, reasons for forecast set out, including that additional contractors would be employed for compliance work and that some works scheduled for Quarter 4.  Head of Service could provide more detail if required.

(xi)    Agenda supplement page 12, query regarding Table 2, references to October 2019 needed to be removed, table should provide comparison between 2018/19 and 2019/20 only.

(xii)   Agenda supplement page 13, Table C, Current Tenant Arrears (Dwellings).  By way of example, number of cases over £2,000 was 21 in 2018/19 and 28 in 2019/20, were the numbers cumulative or all new cases each year?  Not known at this meeting, HRA Accountant would be able to advise.    

The Head of Finance and Property Services noted that it would be useful to the Committee if the timescale for the review looking at alternative uses for garage sites was stated in the report (agenda supplement page 9).

The Democratic Services Officer would ask the Head of Landlord Services for information on the number of tenants who, on receipt of benefit under Universal Credit, did not pay the rent to the Council (report referred to this being the case in some instances) and email a response to the Committee in that respect (agenda supplement page 9).

The Head of Finance and Property Services would check the position in respect of the query in (xii) above and email a response to the Committee in that respect, also include that information in future revenue monitoring reports.

RESOLVED that the report setting out the General Fund and HRA Revenue position at Period 7 2019/20 be noted.

Reason

The Committee’s remit included receiving regular financial monitoring reports and, having noted the discussion at the meeting and made specific resolution where it so wished, it was content to note the revenue monitoring report.