Decision Maker: Homes Policy Development Group
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
The Group Manager for Finance provided the Group with a verbal update regarding the financial position so far in the year and highlighted the following key pieces of information:
· Information was now available from 1 April to the end of July 2020 showing the effect of the pandemic on the Council’s finances so far.
· As at the end of June the Council had been looking at a deficit of £1.5m, however, this had reduced to a deficit of £1.2m as at the end of July.
· Significant income deficits were predicted in the areas leisure services and housing rents. Against this some salary savings had been identified and the opening up of the Leisure Centres was helping to improve the position month by month.
· A number of grant receipts had been received from central Government to help local Councils. This would include assistance under the Income Protection Scheme. The Council would receive 75p in every pound for predicted income losses over 5%. Work was currently being undertaken to predict those losses and it was anticipated that the deficit predicted of £1.2m may reduce to £0.4m as a result of the Income Protection Scheme with the balance having to be found elsewhere.
· Post lockdown recovery was continuing but the Council remained very cautious as the upward trajectory was very slow and there was still a lot of uncertainty.
· With regard to the Housing Revenue Account, the predicted deficit was just over £1m with the vast majority of this being related to the loss of housing rental income.
A question was asked as to what the predicted saving would be terms of Members mileage claims for the whole year given that meetings were currently being held remotely by Zoom and would continue to be for some time yet. The Group Manager for Finance stated that he did not have the exact information to hand but that he would circulate this to the Group following the meeting.
The information provided was NOTED.
Note: ADDENDUM TO MINUTES – at a meeting of the Homes Policy Development Group on 10th November 2020, the Group agreed the following – that an amendment be made to minute no. 21 (Financial Monitoring) in that the last bullet point be amended to state:
‘With regard to the Housing Revenue Account, the predicted deficit was just over £1m. This relates to the settlement of a long standing contract dispute and the potential loss of housing rental income due to the pandemic’.
Publication date: 17/09/2020
Date of decision: 15/09/2020
Decided at meeting: 15/09/2020 - Homes Policy Development Group