Issue - meetings

The Council resolved:-

(i)             having due regard to the content of the report and appendices and taken advice from the Chief Officer - Finance in relation to the use of non-recurring funding, and use of Reserves; and had due regard to the Integrated Impact Assessments prepared, to approve the budget as attached in Table 1 (circulated separately);  

(ii)           to approve the setting of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses in Table 2 (circulated separately) to take effect from Monday 1 April 2024, an increase of 4.7%;  

(iii)          to approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2024/25 as well as note the provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Table 5 (circulated separately);

(iv)          to agree to reduce the working balances in 2024/25 to 9% to meet future operational requirements and risks, noting that if the Housing Revenue Account recorded a deficit and had no reserves then the Council’s General Fund must make a contribution to balance the Account; 

(v)           to note that the implication of using one-off resources to balance the 2024/25 HRA budget was that this funding would not be available in the following year and therefore in the absence of savings being identified the rent increase for 2025/26 would have to increase by an additional 3.3%, above the cost increase modelled for 2025/26.  To instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to incorporate this additional funding requirement into a refresh of the 30-year HRA Business Plan, referred to at 2.8 and 2.9 of the report; 

(vi)          to approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent and the General Fund Support Services Charges as detailed in Tables 3 and 4 (circulated separately), to take effect from Monday 1 April 2024;  

(vii)        to approve, based on a rental increase of 4.7% the Base Capital Programme for the financial year 2024/25, shown in Table 5 (circulated separately);  

(viii)       to note the indicative value of the Base Capital Programme for the financial years 2025/26 to 2028/29 and forecast for a multi-million pound deficit on the Housing Revenue Account in 2028/29 which highlighted the need for the 30-year HRA Business Plan to be refreshed; 

(ix)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance, in consultation with the Chief Officers - Corporate Landlord and Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to prepare an updated 30-year HRA Business Plan, commissioning external support where necessary, and reporting back to the Finance and Resources Committee before the end of September 2024;  

(x)           to note that the multi-year Council house rent policy ran out on 31 March 2023, consultation was undertaken on a one year rent increase in 2024/25, and therefore instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake a similar consultation for inclusion in the 2025/26 HRA budget process and consider if there was any benefit in a longer term Council house rent policy;  

(xi)          to note the inclusion of the tiered trend analysis of the Housing Revenue Account Budget  ...  view the full decision text for item 2

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Finance which provided elected members with information to enable the Council to approve a revenue and capital budget for 2024/25, including setting of the rents and other charges on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for the financial year.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1, page 2, of this report;

(b)           approve the setting of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses in Appendix 1, page 3 of this report, to take effect from Monday 1 April 2024;

(c)           approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2024/25 as well as note the provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 16 to 18;

(d)           agree to maintain the working balances at 10% to meet future operational requirements and risks, noting that if the Housing Revenue Account recorded a deficit and had no reserves then the Council’s General Fund must make a contribution to balance the Account;

(e)           approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent and the General Fund Support Services Charges as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 13 to 14, to take effect from Monday 1 April 2024;

(f)             approve, based on a rental increase of 8.8% the Base Capital Programme for the financial year 2024/25 Appendix 1, pages 16 to 18;

(g)           note the indicative level of the Base Capital Programme for the financial years 2025/26 to 2028/29 Appendix 1, pages 16 to 18;

(h)           note that the long term Council house rent policy ran out on 31 March 2023, consultation was undertaken on a one year rent increase in 2024/25, and therefore instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake a similar consultation for inclusion in the 2025/26 budget process and consider if there was any benefit in a longer term Council house rent policy;

(i)             note the inclusion of the tiered  trend analysis of the Housing Revenue Account Budget 2024/25, page 4 in Appendix 1, and the current actions to move spend from Tier 2 Early Intervention to Tier 1 Prevention; 

(j)             approve the creation of a £500k Rent Assistance Fund pilot, pages 11 to 12  in Appendix 1, and instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance to define the proposed criteria and how such a fund would be managed to be reported to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee on 28 March 2024;

(k)           instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance to investigate a potential pilot to reduce the rent of properties which had been void for 12 months, reporting back to the 2025/26 budget process;

(l)             instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance and the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2