Report of Strategic Director (Finance and Resources) attached

The Cabinet considered a joint report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) and Strategic Director (Finance and Resources) setting out the Housing Revenue (HRA) budget for 2019/20, together with the information necessary to set a balanced budget as required by legislation.

Resolved:

1. That a rent reduction of 1% on secure tenancies, as required by the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, be endorsed.

2. That an average rent increase of 4.86% on shared ownership properties, be endorsed.

3. That the proposed rent changes in 1 and 2 above be effective from 1 April 2019.

4. That the increase in garage rents by 2.5% to £11.70 per week for tenants (£14.04, being £11.70 plus VAT for non-tenants), with all variants on a standard garage receiving a proportionate increase, be endorsed.

5. That the South Essex Homes core management fee of £5,738,000 for 2019/20, be endorsed, with additional one-off funding also being made available of:

·        £10,000 for the data cleansing, training and embedding of new data protection practices in compliance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR); and

·         £140,000 to undertake a project to achieve better integration between the various ICT systems that the company uses, with the aim to achieve efficiencies going forward.

6. That the South Essex Homes proposals for average changes of 4% in service charges and 17% in heating charges, be endorsed.

7. That the following appropriations, be endorsed:

·        £60,000 to the Repairs Contract Pensions earmarked reserve;

·         £1,397,000 to the Major Repairs earmarked reserve; and

·         £444,000 HRA to the Capital Investment earmarked reserve.

8. That, subject to 1 to 7 above, the HRA budget as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report, be endorsed.

9. That the value of the Council’s capital allowance for 2019/20 be declared as £37.326M, as determined in accordance with regulation 16 of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations.

Reasons for decision:

Part of the process of maintaining a balanced budget for the HRA is to consider and set a rent rise (and associated increases in other income streams).  Full Council need to approve the HRA budget prior to the start of the financial year.

Other options:

None.

Note: This is an Executive Function save that approval of the final budget following Cabinet on 12^th February 2019, is a Council Function.

Referred direct to the Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee

Cabinet Member: Cllr Cox