Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sally Taylor and Omid Miri.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting on 12 November 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2024 were agreed as an accurate record.

This report provides an update on the overall preparation and proposals for the 2025/26 revenue budget, risks, financial resilience, and the impact of those proposals.

This report also sets out the budget proposals for the Housing and Homelessness services covered by this Policy and Accountability Committee.

Revenue Budget

Councillor Rowan Ree (Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform) gave an overview of the 2025/26 Revenue Budget, including the operating environment, additional central government funding and objectives of the financial strategy. He also briefed members on the budget headlines, the provisional settlement of the draft budget and departmental service allocations, the investment and savings proposals, council tax considerations and residual risks in 2025/26.  He further highlighted the earmarked reserves forecast and medium-term financial forecast showing the estimated budget gap until 2028/29 as well as the MTFS for 2026/27+. Councillor Ree said the Revenue Budget would be presented to the Cabinet and Full Council in February 2025 after briefing the Policy and Accountability Committees and Policy Oversight Board.

Sukvinder Kalsi (Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Services) highlighted the positive comments of the External Auditor that the Council had attained two green (no significant weaknesses in arrangements identified or improvement recommendation made) and an amber (no significant weaknesses identified, but improvement recommendations made) ratings in terms of financial sustainability, governance and value for money (i.e. improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness). This had provided independent assurance to Committee members, residents and other stakeholders about how well the Council had managed its finances.

NOTE: The presentation slides are attached in Appendix A

Noting Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) had maintained third lowest Council Tax in the country and continued to provide comprehensive Council Tax support to eligible residents while delivering core services, the Chair was concerned how this was achieved when some local authorities were liaising with the central government about emergency funding.

Sharing the same views, Councillor Asif Siddique said residents who noted some councils were struggling from bankruptcy would like to know how the Council had brought about this balanced budget where the essential services were maintained with further investment of £12.3m for growth spending, efficiency saving of £5.1m and a healthy reserve of £73.5m.

Councillor Ree noted H&F might have some of the highest land prices in the country but it also had huge areas of deprivation. He remarked that the achievement was made possible through being ruthlessly financially efficient practised by every Cabinet Member and officer who continued to focus on bringing the outcomes for residents as efficient and effective as possible. Every department was doing its utmost to put all resources to most effective use. He stressed that it was not easy to get a balanced budget which took them a long time to go through the council’s spending line by line to ensure each of them was used efficiently. On Council Tax, Councillor Ree explained that to make the regressive tax regime fairer, the Council had kept Council Tax as low as possible and set the maximum discount at 100% so that the most vulnerable paid nothing at all.

Councillor Adronie Alford sought clarification as one of the key investment proposals for 2025/26 included £3.4m for community safety and social inclusion (page 16) but the figure was larger for a similar item in the presentation.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

A slide presentation on the Housing Revenue Budget 2025/26 and its Business Plan will be delivered at the meeting.

Daniel Rochford (Head of Finance – Housing) presented the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget 2025/26, including the strategic operating environment, the HRA budget strategy, HRA 10-Year Business Plan, proposed HRA budget and its key outcomes, key risks, HRA general reserve, Housing Capital Programme 2025/26 - 2028/29 and the key metrics (value of housing and external debt outstanding). He said that the HRA budget 2025/26 would be presented to the Cabinet on 10 February 2025.

NOTE: The presentation slides are attached in Appendix C

On the Chair’s enquiry about the details of the efficiency savings of £5.3m, Daniel Rochford noted the contingency in the HRA budget had increased significantly to protect the HRA from various pressures experienced in recent years.  With the current HRA balance becoming more stable, the level of contingency could now be reduced by £2m.  In addition, a number of savings initiatives had been implemented by the Housing Service. A good example was that, on the conclusion of the Integrated Housing Management Systems Programme, it was no longer necessary to hold extra budgets and incur expenditure for the development and implementation of the project resulting in some savings as the service returned to business as usual.

Noting the robust target for reducing void rent loss to 1.6%, Councillor Asif Siddique sought elaboration in achieving this.  Richard Shwe (Director of Housing) noted that the number of voids had dropped from some 600+ two years ago to around a hundred standard voids plus some major voids currently.  He highlighted the joined-up thinking had helped shorten the duration of void recovery from several months or even a couple of years to about 20/30 days by streamlining the process with responsible officers’ undertakings done digitally.  For properties not meeting the required standards, former tenants would be held accountable and asked to improve. The Council also needed to incur some expenses in this regard.

The Chair asked why the repair spending was set to be reduced in HRA. Richard Shwe highlighted the good position in repairs the financial position of which had been improved. Moreover, the asset management plan over the next 10 years was also looking good. 

In reply to Councillor Adronie Alford’s concern about the level of compensation of disrepairs payable to residents and their ambulance chasers, Richard Shwe noted that a lot had been done to improve the policies and procedures in respect of repairs. The Housing Service was now in a better position to assure what needed to happen for cases of disrepairs.  It was giving advice proactively to the residents concerned against ambulance chasing by undertaking to recover the properties in good conditions.  He agreed to provide the level of compensation of disrepairs in the HRA budget.

ACTION: Daniel Rochford

Councillor Frances Umeh (Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness) expressed grave concern about ambulance chasing as the relevant firms might have misled the residents, delayed the work resulting in rising costs and brought adverse impacts on the families ultimately.   Under the new policies and procedures, the Council was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note the date of the next meeting:

·       23 April 2025

Members noted the date of next meeting on 23 April 2025 and the Committee’s Forward Plan below:

• Compliance Update (April 2025)
• Hidden Homelessness (April 2025)
• Sheltered Housing (July 2025)
• Repairs Update (July 2025)
• Capital Programming and Regeneration (Nov 2025)