Agenda item

Purpose of report

To present the draft budget proposals and estimates for 2026/27 for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

Decision

Cabinet made the following recommendations to Council:

1.     Approve the HRA budget for 2026/27 and indicative proposals for 2027/28 and 2028/29 (Appendix A).

2.     Approve an increase of 4.8% for 2026/27 for the social housing dwellings.

3.     Approve the proposed increase of 2% for garage rents and 3.8% increase for service charges.

4.     Approve the HRA Capital Programme and financing statement 2026/27 to 2028/29 (Appendix B of the report).

5.     Approve the HRA Capital Programme budget carry forward of £10.416m from 2025/26 (Appendix B of the report).

6.     Approve the movements in HRA Reserves (Appendix C of the report).

Other options considered

The alternative options were considered as part of the report in sections 3 to 7.

Reasons for the decision

The Council was required to set a HRA Budget each year and to set rent levels in accordance with the Government rent setting guidance.

The HRA budgets had been set in the context of delivering the aims of a housing strategy whilst balanced against the need to maintain a sustainable 30-year business plan.

The 2025-2030 Housing Strategy was approved by Cabinet on 4 November 2025 and set the vision for housing across the district. It also set out five priorities:

·       A commitment to deliver new affordable and specialist housing in partnership.

·       Continual improvement of the quality, standard and safety of homes

·       Support people to live healthy and independent lives in their homes

·       Facilitate housing to be sustainable

·       Support communities to be sustainable.

The Financial challenges facing the HRA required Council in 2025/26 to allocate further resources in response to increasing revenue costs. These pressures continue into 2026/2027, and this financial growth was reflected in the proposed revenue budgets. It was also reflected in the projected financial reserve balances that were available; down from £35.7 million in March 2026 to £7.7 million in three years’ time.

In the longer-term HRA Business Plan, projections indicated a projected need to draw on further reserves before potentially falling into a deficit position by 2032/2033. Therefore, spending plans would need to be reviewed to take corrective action to avoid a deficit. The recent Government announcement on 28 January 2026 outlined the outcome of the rent convergence proposals, which would provide an increase in revenue income. This may bring the business plan back into balance. Work would be undertaken to model the impact of the proposals and update the HRA business plan accordingly.

The announcement made on the 28 January 2026 regarding the outcome of the consultation also confirmed the following:

·       From 1 April 2027 rent can be set with an additional £1 a week if this does not result in the rent exceeding formula rent.

·       From 1 April 2028 rent can be set with an additional £2 a week as long as this does not result in the rent exceeding formula rent.

Council would be asked to consider this later in the year, and if taken forward it would be included in the 2027/2028 budgets.

The Section 151 Officer confirmed that financial modelling has taken place regarding the announcement from Government. It would mean in the region of £500,000 per year of additional income, if accepted by Full Council.

The following points were highlighted during debate:

·       The current percentage of ‘Decent Homes’ achieved by the Council was 99.73%.

·       The backlog of housing maintenance and repairs was reducing.

·       Given that costs for repairs and maintenance were always rising, it was best to spend money now on the Council’s housing stock, so that it could be in the best condition possible.

·       Rent collected from tenants was reinvested into the homes they lived in.

·       The repairs and maintenance budget was at the same level over the 3-year period of the budget report and was an ongoing challenge.

·       Investment levels in housing stock were constant over the next 3 years, mainly due to Government pressuring local councils on this issue.

·       Officers and Cabinet members had committed to do more work over the summer period to come up with a set of proposals to put the HRA on a better financial footing.

·       The HRA cannot be subsidised through the General Fund (GF).

·       Regular budget monitoring reports were provided to the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC).