Meeting

Purpose of Report

The law requires that all income and expenditure relating to Council Housing is accounted for separately in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  All other Council income and expenditure is accounted for together in a separate account called the General Fund. This report deals solely with the HRA.

The City Council has delegated the function of setting rents, charges and revenue budgets for Council Housing to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness.  Following consultation with residents and leaseholders, this report seeks to address all HRA budget issues.

The purpose of this report is to seek the Cabinet Member's decisions on the City Council Housing budgets, rents and other charges and to give authority for managers to incur expenditure in 2025/26.

The report also seeks to:

Note the Forecast Revenue Outturn for 2024/25 and give authority to the Director of Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services & the Director of Finance and Resources to amend the budgets to reflect the latest available information prior to finalising budgets for 2025/26.

Note the Forecast Revenue Budgets for 2026/27 to 2028/29 arising from the proposals set out in this report.

Set rents with an average increase of 2.7%, which is in line with the maximum increase allowed by Central Government's Social Rent Setting Policy.

The report focuses on the context for the rent and service charge setting for 2025/26, references to previous years' context are included where appropriate.  The report for the 2024/25 rent and service charge setting is available on the Council's website.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that the Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness approves the following:

The Forecast Revenue Outturn for 2024/25 arising from monitoring discussions with Managers, as set out at Appendix 3, be noted.

All rents and charges to be effective from Monday 31st March 2025 or such other date as determined by the Director of Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Resources.

Dwelling Rents for 2025/26 to be set with an average increase of 2.7%, which is in line with the maximum allowable under Central Government's Social Rent Setting Policy, as summarised in Appendix 4.

General Service Charges for 2025/26 to be set at this meeting, as set out in this report, and in accordance with Appendix 5.

Sheltered Housing Service Charges for 2025/26 to be set at this meeting, as set out in this report, and in accordance with Appendix 6.

Laundry Charges for 2025/26 to be set at this meeting, as set out in this report, and in accordance with Appendix 7.

Heating Charges for 2025/26 to be set in accordance with Appendix 8.

Garages and Parking Site Rents for 2025/26, as shown in Appendix 9, be approved and authority to let garages at reduced rents where demand is low be delegated to the Director of Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Resources.

The Revenue Budget for 2025/26, as set out in Appendix 3, be approved and authority given to the Director of Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Resources, to amend the budgets to reflect the latest available information prior to finalising budgets for 2025/26.

The relevant Managers be authorised to incur expenditure in 2025/26.

The Forecast Revenue Budgets for 2026/27 to 2028/29 arising from the proposals contained in this report, as set out in Appendix 3, be noted.