Agenda item

1.    That Cabinet note:

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

(b)  The service updates provided in section 2 of the report.

Decision

1.    That Cabinet note:

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

(b)  The service updates provided in section 2 of the report.

Corporate objectives

The financial impact and the Council’s response to Covid-19 will impact all of the Council’s Corporate Objectives.

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

S Marshall ran through the main highlights of the report. In light of the announcement on restrictions announced by the Prime Minister today, the implications of this will be explored at the Incident Management Team this week. There was a clear message today about continuing to work from home but there is still a need to still provide local services. S Marshall paid tribute to teams who have worked hard throughout the crisis and adapted to new ways of working particularly the Environmental Health team who have assisted with the Track and Trace programme over the summer and the demand will increase on this service over the winter months.

Councillor Williams provided an update on the Old Town Hall. He said he attended the Housing & Community OSC meeting where the committee discussed the possibility of reopening the hall. The configuration of the hall and its financial viability make it a huge challenge to try and reopen safely with a meaningful programme and therefore, a decision has been taken to not reopen the Old Town Hall before the end of the calendar year. This decision will be review in January 2021. There will be an opportunity to redeploy the staff to other departments.

S Marshall added that there are various roles across the council that are critical to the covid-19 response that the staff can be redeployed in to. This will take into account the staff’s existing skills such as health and safety, admin work and communications.

Councillor Tindall referred to page 38, paragraph 2.25 about the LEP and was concerned that there was no mention of small businesses. He asked for further information on how the LEP was helping businesses.

S Marshall said they had a comprehensive programme and the LEP is working closely with businesses and the Economic Development Team at Dacorum. There are packages on the LEP website and they are engaging with businesses and have access to various forms of funding such as self-funding and crowd funding. The LEP is leading on the economic recovery cell on behalf of the Hertfordshire public sector and the key aspects are updated weekly with all the council Chief Executives.

Councillor Tindall said he would make local businesses aware of this

J Deane updated the committee on the financial implications. In June, there was a forecast pressure of £5m which has now been refined based on year to date figures and government information and this pressure is now forecast at £2.5m. In the general fund, this pressure is largely based on the income side. There has been further information from the government on the Sales, Fees and Charges scheme, the local authority must absorb the first 5% of losses for eligible income streams, but central government will underwrite 75% of the remaining 95%. This scheme does not apply to rental income streams and so any losses from garage rentals of commercial income will not be eligible. For the remainder of the year, we have assumed the same shortfall on income over the next seven months and will depend on if there is a recession and how bad it affects residents.

In relation to expenditure, the council is currently living within its £1.8m grant from the government but this will come under increasing pressure, particularly in Waste Services, after today’s announcement that the covid-19 response level has raised to level 4. Council tax collection will again depend on how a recession plays out and whether unemployment increases. It is currently down 1.7% year-on-year, but this is to be expected as a result of re-profiling. Some residents took the two free months at the start of the year and pushed payment to the end of the year. The Medium Term Financial Strategy is coming to Cabinet next month which will report on the long term impact. On the Housing Revenue Account, there is much less of a concern and forecasting a surplus as there is currently the inability to do less urgent works in our housing stock.

Councillor Griffiths assured members that they were not cutting back on the work but the team cannot catch up in time on the work that was already programmed.

Councillor Williams suggested there was a risk to the HRA if rent is not recovered as this will have an impact in future years.

J Deane said there would be risk if arrears do not catch up.

M Gaynor said that there is a reduction in the number of replacement works to balance off the number of workers available.

Councillor Williams said there were no new bathrooms or kitchens to be fitted this financial year.

S Marshall updated Cabinet that the council were notified by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that there would be a lot more emphasis on track and trace and asked local authorities to play their part in encouraging and educating people to comply. There is a new requirement to investigate and fine those who are not self-isolating. There is a self-isolation relief scheme in place which is a grant from government for those who cannot work from home if they need to self-isolate and the allocation of this grant will lie with unitary and district councils. The scheme will need to be in place by 12^th October to make these £500 payments.

J Deane assured members that a process to allocate this grant would be put in place. The team have put in place several grant schemes over the last few months so they know what they are doing.

Recommendations agreed.