Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was resolved to note the position set out in respect of the financial performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) 2022/23.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the financial performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for the year from April, 2022 to March, 2023 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

Councillor Robin Williams, Portfolio Member for Finance presented the report with an overview of the HRA’s end of year position. The report shows the revenue budget with a budgeted surplus of £6,218k. The capital budget for 2022/23 was £15,024k and was initially expected to be funded in part (£2,688k) by grants. The combination of both the revenue and adjusted capital budget gave a planned budget deficit of £6,128k which would be funded from the HRA reserve. The HRA is ringfenced and its reserves cannot be transferred to the General Fund nor can General Fund reserves be used to fund the HRA. The actual deficit combining both revenue and capital was £225k at out-turn, this compares to a forecasted deficit of £2,187k in Quarter 3 with the movement as a result of the reasons detailed in section 4 of the report.

The Director of Function (Resource)/Section 151 Officer explained that HRA resources are derived from rental income, grant funding and HRA reserves. The opening balance of the HRA stood at £12,333k. The revised budget allowed for the use of £6,128k of this balance. However the outturn position shows that only £225k will be required from the HRA reserve in 2022/23 leaving a reserve balance of £12,108k which is available to fund future HRA expenditure only. The balance will be utilised during 2023/24 to fund capital expenditure including the continued development of new properties. The HRA balance will be reduced to in the region of £1m which is the minimum level set out in the HRA Business Plan. Once the minimum level is reached, further investment will be funded from the revenue surplus generated and through external borrowing the cost of which will be met by HRA income. Appendix C provides a list of new development in progress in 2022/2023 as well as schemes against which there was no planned expenditure in 2022/23 which will take shape in 2023/24 comprising of over 100 new units.

The Executive’s Members highlighted that the new housing developments listed in Appendix C are part of fulfilling the vision of the Council Plan that “everyone should have somewhere to call home” and sit alongside the important ongoing investment in the Council’s existing housing stock.

It was resolved to note the position set out in respect of the financial performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) 2022/23.