Issue - meetings

1.    That the following be noted:

(a)  The projected financial impact of Covid-19 for 2020/21 as set out in section 1.

(b)  The service updates provided in section 2.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

2.    The approval of £76,000 (over two years) additional funding for Citizens Advice Dacorum.

Decision

1.    That the following be noted:

(a)  The projected financial impact of Covid-19 for 2020/21 as set out in section 1.

(b)  The service updates provided in section 2.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

2.    The approval of £76,000 (over two years) additional funding for Citizens Advice Dacorum.

Monitoring Officer comments

The Monitoring Officer continues to monitor the key issues raised by legislative changes and relevant government guidance and ensure that effective policies and procedures are in place to assist services to continue to deliver during the pandemic and subsequent recovery phase.

S151 Officer comments

The Financial Implications section of the report have been written by the S151 officer and will continue to be monitored as actual costs become clearer.  Members will be regularly updated on the financial implications of Covid-19 as they develop.

Advice

Councillor Williams introduced the report to members and highlighted the recommended to make additional funding available to the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) for two years to recognise the increase in workload for them, especially in providing financial assistance.

C Hamilton added to the report to tell members that the Incident Management Team (IMT) continues to meet twice a week and the membership has been expanded to include a Communications representative to ensure that the information is cascaded appropriately after the meetings. Efforts are ongoing to identify staff to work in the local Track and Trace centre and work continues with Hertfordshire County Council to identify premises for a vaccination centre in the borough. The Environmental Health team continue to do a great job and are visiting premises to ensure they are following guidance. There continues to be a concern from county that people are reluctant to self-isolate when they have been told to and there is an increase in cases amongst the over 60s. The council continue to liaise with Everyone Active on their finances and a report will be going to Finance & Resources OSC this week. The Homeless Team are under continued pressure and the Tenancy Sustainment Team are dealing with an increase in domestic abuse cases. This is all closely monitored through IMT and members will continue to be kept up to date.

M Gaynor commented on the pressures on CAB. They are seeing an increase in case load due to increased redundancies, furlough and people moving onto Universal Credit and the delays in getting payments. Although it keeps getting delayed, there is also the threat of private landlords being able to evict tenants. There has been a 300% increase in cases at CAB.

J Deane highlighted some of the financial implications. The overall pressure has reduced from £2.5 to £2.2 million and a lot of the pressure is forecast on the income side. There is an additional pressure this month from the Alternative Financial Model (AFM) funding from Hertfordshire County Council which is an incentive to increase recycling and divert waste from landfill. The department are collecting significantly more waste due to more people staying at home which increases the waste going to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102