Agenda item

This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Fran Smith, Housing.

Report Author: Kerry Prisco (Management Accounting and Reporting Lead).

Executive Cllr Francesca Smith, PFH for Housing introduced the Housing Revenue Account Financial Monitoring Report for Qtr 3.

There is a forecasted underspend of £91K which has been achieved mainly by an increase in investment income, as a direct result of reduction in spend on the capital programme and increasing interest rates. These have offset the main financial pressures including depreciation charges, the rising cost of bringing void properties up to a decent standard prior to reletting, the recent pay award and inflation increasing material costs.

Questions and comments from the Committee included: -

·       An update on the current position regarding the North Taunton Woolaway Project (NTWP). The next phase of the contract is out for tender, and interested parties are being invited to price for the work, following the previous contractor stating they would no longer be delivering projects in the Southwest. Tenants have been written to and are being kept up to date. The PFH wants to deliver on this as soon as possible, but the process is being hampered by the rising costs of materials, the reluctance of contractors to price for the work and the demolition being held up until the end of the bird-nesting season.

The delays in completing the phases and going back out to tender will have a budgetary impact on the Council. There is a delay in the cost of borrowing due to waiting on the tender, as interest rates increase and inflation will increase the cost of materials further down the line. There will also be delays in rental income because the properties are not ready for letting. The budget for the next financial year and the MTFP is being adjusted to account for these factors.

·       SWT do not currently do 6-monthly inspections of their council housing, to ensure they are maintained to a reasonable standard, although this is something that regularly occurs in the private sector. The PFH stated that inspections usually occurred prior to the tenant vacating when sufficient notice had been given, but this was not always the case. Some properties were left in extremely poor condition and this was costly to put right before re-letting. It would be prudent to instigate this with new tenants going forward, as it would be a good way of spotting issues before they had a chance to escalate.

Chris Hall clarified that although property inspections were not routine, operatives from the compliance safety teams would be undertaking annual checks and any concerns would be reported back as a matter of course. This has been picked up by the Tenants Strategic Board who are hoping to widen the remit to those houses who do not have compliance inspections, and can be booked in for at least an annual check.

·       Recruitment – there are national issues on recruitment which are hampering SWT’s ability to recruit and retain key staff. It is also difficult to compete with the private sector in terms of salary when this is determined at a national level. SWT is doing all it can to ensure that vacancies are filled, by promoting the extra benefits that come for working for a public sector organisation (such as pension, health schemes etc). If core staff vacancies cannot be recruited then the new unitary will look to employ from agencies or from other parts of the council in Somerset and share key skills.

The Chair acknowledged that the work of scrutinising housing in a wider sense would be absolutely critical in the new council and would fall under Chris Hall’s Communities Directorate. She also wished staff well for the future.

The Committee unanimously noted the report recommendations.