Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to appraise the Housing & Wellbeing Committee of its forecast out-turn against the 2024/25 budgets, which were approved by Full Council at its meeting of the 21 February 2024

The Chair invited the Interim Financial Services Manager and Deputy S151 Officer to present the report to members, which outlined the Committee’s forecast outturn against the 2024/25 budget. 

He highlighted Table 1 that set out the 2024/25 revenue outturn forecast as at Quarter 1, which highlighted an overspend risk of £95k. The variances predominantly related to 1) Homeless and Housing Advice following an increase in homelessness with a net forecast overspend of £425k offset by the receipt of grant funding; and 2) Revenues and Benefits offset by a salary underspend.  Both of these areas were being monitored and would be realigned accordingly once the 2024/25 process had started.  Table 2, set out progress made against approved savings targets and to paragraph 3.6 detailing the reasons for the £150k shortfall.  The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) balance was forecast to increase the reserve to £1.5m by the end of the financial year and indicated an in-year surplus of over £300k.  He drew attention to financial pressures, at Table 4, relating to Supervision and Management, which was offset by a large saving in the repairs and maintenance budget since the service was brought in-house. The HRA Capital Programme forecast an underspend of £15.224 million, mainly relating to stock development, sheltered accommodation and the carried over Decarbonisation project   The figures contained in the report were subject to audit and were monitored on a monthly basis.

The Chair then invited questions and comments from members. 

·      The ‘Revised 2024/25 Budget’ column for Table’s 3, 4 and 5 should read ‘Original 2024/25 Budget’. 

·      Responding to a comment about the decarbonisation project, the Interim Financial Services Manager and Deputy S151 Officer the saving of £3 million was due to the budget not yet being spent. 

·      In response to a question concerning issues compounded by the unknowns from enhanced prisoner release schemes, the Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities replied that two out of three individuals had presented themselves.  He undertook to find out the expected issues and additional numbers that the Council expected to face.

·      Details were requested concerning the salary underspend and its relationship with the variants detailed within the HRA account.  The Interim Financial Services Manager and Deputy S151 Officer advised these were not related and that the £335k revenues and benefits general fund underspend related to a one-off saving due to staff vacancies. 

·      Responding to clarification sought concerning the Quarter 1 slippage forecast in the HRA Capital Programme, the Interim Financial Services Manager and Deputy S151 Officer explained the figures were distorted by the previous year’s slippage of £9m, the details of which were set out in the 2024/25 final outturn.  The revised areas included stock development, sheltered accommodation and decarbonisation.  The Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities referred to a review of sheltered housing member briefing held, where members were advised that although funding was available, as yet no schemes were available to come forward. Since the briefing, officers had been working on the outcomes, including the future of the Flaxmean House sheltered accommodation site.   The decarbonisation slippage resulted from an unsuccessful funding bid to the social housing decarbonisation fund. Guidelines were currently awaited concerning stage three of the funding, which would be initialised if match funding was obtained. 

·      A member remained concerned that each year the HRA Capital and the General Fund Capital programmes both included capital slippage, which did not reflect well on how the Council managed its budgets.  It was requested that next year’s budget should be more realistic and portray what the Council actually intended to provide and was aiming for.

·      The Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities provided an update on the latest position since the repairs and maintenance service was brought in-house.  The new service was having a positive impact on the HRA account, along with capital treatment and service improvement initiations.  Work was being undertaken to improve the service quality, which was going well with tenant satisfaction significantly improved.  However, there was still a lot of work to do with pressures on the mobilisation of the new contract and some unexpected costs due to the timescale that officers had worked to. 

·      A member thanked officers for providing the sheltered accommodation member briefing.  Concern was expressed as to the Council’s ability to manage its sheltered accommodation in terms of its Capital expenditure.  It was disappointing that no schemes were coming forward, but acknowledged the work members were aware was taking place and reassurance was sought that these schemes would be moving forward in the near future.  The Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities replied that the next steps were to commission updated feasibility studies and a detailed re-design scheme for Flaxmean House.  He undertook to report back to the Committee with details of the timescales for the Flaxman House scheme. 

·      The Interim Financial Services Manager and Deputy S151 Officer responded to a question concerning the supervision and management budget and the number of contracts involved and if stock development management was included.  He advised that of the £947k overspend forecast at Quarter one, £500k was due to the cost of insourcing the repairs contract, including the cost of bringing TUPE staff into the service, and would be offset by an anticipated net saving of 700k.  The Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities added that the supervision and management budget related to staffing across the housing service in respect of HRA services and related expenditure budgets not otherwise itemised at table 4.

·      Following a question regarding the TUPE process the Group Head of Housing, Wellbeing and Communities advised that the housing maintenance operatives were transferred into Arun’s inhouse service, as per the legal agreement that provided a legal obligation.  Those operatives were working in a different way resulting in less complaints being received.

The Committee noted the report.