Agenda item

F Jump presented the report and asked Committee for any questions.

Cllr England mentioned point 3.4 where additional funding for Covid 19 of £2.5m that the council has had and £1.3m income guarantee support. He notes that additional premises insurance charges relating to HRA premises, which has arisen due to significant weather events and wanted to highlight that this is a prime example of rising costs to the council that we will increasingly face due to the climate emergency and that underlines the need for us to act quickly to reduce those effects.

Cllr Mahmood questioned the £3.1m and with another lockdown planned, will this mean an increase in costs.  F Jump confirmed this figure was from September and is therefore pre-lockdown but there is the potential that the position will worsen.  F Jump added she would not want to speculate at the moment but once we have more information of the impact over the next few weeks it will be incorporated into the forecasts.

Cllr Mahmood asked about point 5.6 the repairs and maintenance budget, the £2.1m HRA and the pressures were less than the £2.1m ‘savings’ by not being able to do the work, will the pressures elsewhere be relieved by the money that hasn’t been spent this year and there will come a time when it will be spent, but there will be a new budget next year.  F Jump confirmed that the work will be move further down the line and will be incorporated into the budget for next year.  F Williamson advised that in terms of the expectation we are not expecting to go back to emergency repairs during this lockdown, we have had feedback from tenants and in the main they would prefer to operate business as usual.  With regards to pressures elsewhere we will be looking to maintain a balanced budget.

Cllr Mahmood queried the restrictions this time round and asked how it works going into other people’s houses to do the repair of the work.  F Williamson said that some works are going ahead this lockdown and that the guidance that has come out from the Construction Council and Central Government allows for workplace activities within residential properties, but obviously there is some heightened concern over any people who are in the clinically vulnerable groups, therefore we will be continuing with the triage questions that were used throughout the whole of this pandemic to ensure that there is no additional risk being introduced.

Cllr Mahmood asked for clarification on point 4.1 and 4.2 as it appears there’s an underspend on garages maintenance and a pressure of £65k on emergency Bed and Breakfast, there is also a pressure on garage income.  F Jump confirmed that 4.1 shows that there is an overall pressure on progress budgets within Housing and Communities, within that there is a separate pressure on emergency accommodation, so the net of those two give the overall pressure within premises.

Cllr Mahmood mentioned that there is no reduction in garages uptake, should that mean that there’s no pressure.  F Jump confirmed there continues to be a pressure.

Cllr Mahmood asked about the total income and where appreciation should be included.  F Jump advised that appreciation is accounted for differently, not in the Housing Revenue Account and she would be happy to provide the information outside of this meeting.

Action: F Jump

Cllr Pringle mentioned the triage for work being done in tenants homes, asking if they are provided with general advice prior to the appointment, for example wear a mask, open windows, go into another room with the door shut, all simple things that people could do and might take the pressure off the workforce and protect the household.  F Williamson confirmed they do go through the guidance at the point the appointment is made, but because there is a backlog, due to Covid, which is now almost all completed but the day to day repairs continue, so sometimes the actual appointment can be some in the future so the operative does do a doorstep triage to make sure the circumstances within the household hasn’t changed, but certainly the advice given could supplement what we are doing currently and will look to take forward the suggestions put forward.

Cllr Adeleke said that on page 28, point 5.7, says that there is additional pressure on insurance than expected and asked for clarification on the reason for this.  F Jump advised it was the wet weather, a high degree of rainfall, which caused a lot of flooding and we have received more insurance claims.

Cllr Adeleke queried that this should direct to the insurance company.  F confirmed that the Council had to pay a percentage of every claim that comes through, so up to a certain amount the Council are self-insurers.

The report was noted.