To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 11 September 2023 as a correct record of proceedings.

The Chair was authorised to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 11 September 2023 as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair to ask if any Member present is substituting for another Member and, if so, to declare his/her name as substitute Member and the name of the absent Member.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any disclosure by Members of personal and disclosable pecuniary interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Member regards the personal interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct. Members are reminded of the need to repeat their declaration immediately prior to the commencement of the item in question.

Declarations of interest were made by Councillors in the Minutes as indicated below:

Clark               Agenda Item 8 – Personal Interest as a Member of East Sussex County Council.

Maynard          Agenda Items 7 & 8 – Personal Interest as an Executive Member of East Sussex County Council.

Members received a presentation from the Head of Digital and Customer Services on the creation of a Digital and Customer Services Strategy.  The presentation outlined for Members why a strategy was required, the changing expectations of the Council’s customers, themes, strategic aims and objectives of a strategy, service priorities, how the success of a strategy would be measured and finally how the development of a strategy could be taken forward, either officer led or through a Member led Task and Finish Group (T&FG).  The aim was to take a completed strategy to full Council for adoption in May 2024.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during the discussions:

•     Members were keen to ensure that any consultation involved engaging with key groups to gain feedback on the accessibility of customer services;

•     there were individuals in all age groups who could not access technology and this should be borne in mind when developing a strategy;

•     when going out to consultation, residents who had and had not engaged with the Council should be consulted with, to understand the reasons for not engaging and the experiences of those who had.  A T&FG could also gather evidence from different types of groups through their work; and

•     Members were aware of a group in Etchingham, based at the station, assisting residents with access to services.  Officers were already in contact to understand how they could be supported.

Members agreed that the development of a strategy should be taken forward by a T&FG. Councillors Mrs Cook, Legg, Stanger and Winter had put themselves forward for membership of the Group, which the Committee were happy to agree.  A Terms of Reference (ToR) would be written as soon as possible and, in order not to delay matters further and to be able to meet the deadline of submitting a strategy for adoption by the Council in May 2024, it was agreed that these would be submitted to the Chair as soon as possible for approval by the Committee via email.

RESOLVED: That:

1)   a Digital and Customer Services Task and Finish Group be established, comprising of Councillors Mrs V. Cook, M.C. Legg, J. Stanger and C.J. Winter to lead in the development of a Digital and Customer Services Strategy and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in April 2024, for onward recommendation to Cabinet and Council in May 2024; and

2)   the Terms of Reference be circulated to the Chair and Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee by email after the meeting for approval.

Members received the report of the Head of Housing and Regeneration which gave details of the proposed Discharge of Homelessness Duty to a Suitable Private Rented Property Policy. The policy outlined the criteria for how offers of private sector accommodation were made when discharging the Council’s homelessness duties under the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.  

Following amendments to the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) in November 2012 by the Localism Act 2011, the Council could discharge its accommodation duties owed to homeless applicants by making an offer of social housing, suitable private sector accommodation or suitable supported accommodation.

The proposed Discharge of Homelessness Duty to a Suitable Private Rented Property Policy (DSPRP Policy) was attached to the report at Appendix 1. To have a formal policy in place would enable the Council to transparently make an offer of a private sector tenancy inside or outside of the Rother District Council area to all households where a suitable property had been identified and leave it less open to formal appeal from customers. 

Customers would be advised of the options that the Council had available to support them with securing accommodation from the outset of their housing journey, and would be a given a clear idea of affordability in relation to rental costs for accommodation based on their personal circumstances. All offers of accommodation would be made in writing and the customer would have the opportunity to view the property prior to accepting the offer.

The Committee was asked to recommend the proposed DSPRP Policy and to recommend that authority was delegated to the Head of Housing and Regeneration to make any changes that might be required to the DSPRP Policy in future.

Members were advised that any property offered to the Council for private rental was either inspected by officers or the landlord was verified as ‘fit and proper’ and confirmation received that all necessary safety certificates were in place.

Councillor McCourt, the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing who was in attendance, explained that the Policy amalgamated and simplified the processes that were already in place.  The numbers currently in temporary accommodation (TA) were continuing to increase, so the flexibility to discharge the Council’s duty was welcomed.  As a result, waiting times would be decreased, it would be more cost effective for the Council and reduce the cost of TA, which currently accounted for 11% of the Council’s budget. Councillor McCourt commended the Housing Needs Operations Manager and the rest of the team.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be requested to consider that:

1)   the Discharge of Homelessness Duty to a Suitable Private Rented Property Policy be recommended to Council for adoption; and

2)   the Head of Housing and Regeneration be granted delegated authority to make any further changes that may be required to the Discharge of Homelessness Duty to a Suitable Private Rented Property Policy in the future.

Members received the report of the Interim Deputy Chief Executive (Section 151) which outlined the financial issues affecting the Council and their impact on the financial forecast over the coming years, which would be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 6 November 2023. The updated Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was attached at Appendix 1 to the report and currently showed a gap of just under £0.5m which needed to be addressed to balance the 2024/25 budget. To close this gap, it was currently proposed to use reserves.

The savings and efficiencies totalling £3.3m that the Council had identified to help support the 2024/25 budget could be found within Appendix 2 to the report. The draft capital budget was included within Appendix 3 to the report, while the fees and charge proposals for the next year were covered by Appendix 4. Appendix 5 to the report included a risk assessment for the next year’s budget, along with a sensitivity and scenario analysis at Appendix 6.

Members noted that the assumptions that had been made in terms of future central Government funding would not be confirmed until the Provisional Settlement was announced, the date of which was currently anticipated to be around the end of December 2023 and as such were subject to change. A further budget report would be submitted to Cabinet and Council in February 2024.

The following salient points were noted:

•     MTFS: supported the delivery of the Corporate Plan outcomes and helped ensure a focus on the Council’s medium term budget position. The MTFS established how the Council’s priorities would be achieved by setting out the framework within which resources were available over the medium term and the financial challenges facing the Council in terms of future funding gaps. The strategy explored some of the Council’s plans for addressing the budget deficit and considered some of the assumptions included. The MTFS was linked to and underpinned several of the Council’s key strategy and policy documents.

•     Corporate Plan 2020-2027: set out the intent and ambition of the authority for the period 2020–2027. Following the recent elections in May 2023, the Cabinet was working on a new Corporate Plan, and this was expected to be in place by July 2024 and would therefore influence the financial planning from 2025/26 onwards.

•     National and Global Pressures: financial pressures such as the Net Zero agenda, the ongoing impact of the war in Ukraine, the highest inflation for the last 40 years, rising interest rates, uncertainties over Government policy and an uncertain economic outlook continued to impact on the Council’s business.

•     Local Pressures: : a number of issues were affecting the Council’s budget at a local level including the Council’s largest contract (waste management and street cleansing), which had seen significant increases due to inflationary pressures and also temporary accommodation (TA) costs, which had tripled over the last 4 years.

•     Fees and Charges: The budget for fees and charges was increased in line with CPI inflation, unless there  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/30.

Members received the report of the Revenue and Benefits Manager which outlined a proposed consultation with both the public and the Major Precepting Authorities in respect of proposed changes to the Council’s Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme with effect from 1 April 2024.

The current CTR scheme administered by the Council was divided into two schemes, with pension age applicants receiving support under the rules prescribed by central Government, and the scheme for working age applicants being determined solely by the local authority. When CTR was introduced in 2013, for working age applicants, the Council broadly adopted the previous means tested Council Tax Benefit (CTB) scheme as the basis of awarding support.  However, due to the reduction in funding from central Government, the Council had, since 2016, also required working age applicants, even those on the lowest income, to pay a minimum payment of 20%.

Significant improvements had been made to the working age scheme with the introduction of a banded scheme in 2019; consideration of further changes was now required to improve the scheme further, given the financial pressures being experienced by low-income households.

Under the CTB scheme, almost 75% of working age applicants would not have been required to pay any Council Tax and would have received full (100%) support. Since the CTR scheme’s introduction, low-income taxpayers, the poorest households, had been unable to pay the balance leading to additional costs, court, enforcement action and, in some cases, the amounts demanded had been written off as uncollectable. Whilst the overall level of council tax collection had remained relatively stable at around 98%, the collection levels for working age CTR applicants was significantly lower.

With the difficulties in collection experienced, the relatively high level of arrears and the administration costs, it may have no longer made the amounts economically viable to collect, notwithstanding the negative effects to those poorest households. In addition, the costs of administration of these cases by the Council had increased significantly over the years; these costs were borne mainly by the Council.

The proposed changes in the scheme for 2024/25 were to increase the working age maximum to 100% and to remove the £5 per week minimum payment. The minimum payment was where any entitlement below £5 was not currently paid.  When CTR was first introduced in 2013, this resulted in a significant cost reduction.  However, with the introduction of Rother’s current scheme in 2019, it now effected very few CTR recipients and therefore should have been removed when the banded scheme was introduced. The proposed 2024/25 discounts available based on current income thresholds were outlined in the report for Members’ information.

The current scheme cost the collection fund around £8.2m.  The proposed changes, taking into account an estimated 5% overall increase in the Council Tax charge for 2024/25, would increase costs to around £9.48m. The costs of the scheme were borne directly in accordance with the percentage received from the collection fund. The proposals would increase the cost of the CTR scheme for 2024/25,  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/31.

Consideration was given to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme. Members were reminded that any Councillor could make a request for an item to be placed onto the Council’s Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

The following additions and amendments were made:

•     Report of the Digital and Customer Services Task and Finish Group – April 2024; and

•     Impact of Airbnb and second homes in Rye / Winchelsea / Camber from ‘Items for Consideration’ – April 2024

Members requested that a Task and Finish Group (T&FG) be set up to look at the Council’s Planning Enforcement service. In order for Members to understand more about the issues and concerns, it was agreed that a presentation would be given at a Member Briefing session in the first instance, with a view to establishing a T&FG thereafter.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme at Appendix A, as amended, be agreed.