Agenda item

To present the 2022/23 forecast outturn position against the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revenue budgets and Capital Programme that the Committee is responsible for, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget.

The Principal Accountant introduced the report and explained that it had been postponed from the previous meeting due to the passing of Her Majesty, The Queen, therefore the information was a little out dated. He then highlighted the significant variances of the report which included:

General fund revenue position

• There was an overall Underspend of 162k which was summarised in table 1 on page 4 of the reports pack.

General Fund Capital Programme

• This was summarised in table 2 on page 5 of the reports pack.
• Green Homes LADS Park Homes had an overspend of £90k due to slippage as part of the deadline extension.
• Warm Homes had an overspend of £40k, due to slippage costs.
• Warm Homes – Low Carbon Initiatives had a pressure of £1,000k due to becoming active after the last round of budget setting. It would be realigned throughout the next stage of the budget setting. 

Housing Revenue Account Budget

• Showed an overspend of £269k which was summarised in table 3 on page 6 of the reports pack.
• There were still many uncertainties which surrounded inflation and it was predicted that costs would rise by more than what was anticipated within the budget.
• Total Income showed a loss of £173k due to high number of void properties. This number had been reduced from 164 at the start of 2021 to an updated figure of 33 properties.
• Supervision and Management had an underspend of £201k due to a number of vacant posts within the Council.
• Repairs and Maintenance had an overspend of £218k due to the use of contractors to cover vacant posts and additional slippage costs as explained in 5.6 of the reports pack.
• Independent Living Modernisation had an overspend of £75k due to Council tax charges.
• The Council were expecting a rise in salaries due to the anticipated pay award and a rise in utilities and materials.

HRA Capital Programme

• £3.5m pressure showed in table 5 on page 9 of the reports pack.
• Decarbonisation Project showed a pressure of £2,742k.
• New build and Regeneration had an £840k overspend.

It was agreed to get back to Councillor Green with the following information:

• Who would be covering the overspend of £40k on item 4.4 due to slippage costs from the agent.
• Were the remaining £33k of additional costs identified in item 5.6 spent on subcontractors.
• How many of Stroud District Council’s independent schemes still had the district heating system described in item 5.9.

The Interim Head of Housing gave the following answers in response to questions asked:

• Due to the volume of repair requests the Council received, they were prioritised into 3 levels. Lower priority repairs would be required to wait until they could be scheduled around the higher priority repairs and the materials could be sourced.

Councillor Hynd commended that the void properties had been reduced to 33 and were back to pre-covid levels.

It was agreed to circulate figures surrounding the effect of the void properties on rental income.

In response to Councillor Miles, the Principal Accountant explained that the new round of budget setting was currently underway and would be reported to Members at the next meeting to show any financial adjustments made to any upcoming projects.

Councillor Housden questioned whether the overspend on repairs was financially sustainable and should the service be outsourced. The Operations Manager explained that the voids contracts used contractors to complete the repairs which was then managed in house by the Repairs Team.

Councillor Schoemaker proposed and Councillor Baker seconded.

Councillors Baker and Schoemaker commended the report and the team for the results.

Councillors debated the use of subcontractors in relation to the void repairs.

After being put to a vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED    To note the outturn forecast for the General Fund and HRA revenue budgets and the Capital Programmes for this Committee.