Agenda item

The Chairman invited Nicola Morton, Head of Local Government Finance to present the report which provided a summary of the work by the LGA on funding and finance issues since the last Board meeting including the final 2023/24 Local Government Finance Settlement, the Government’s Local Government Finance Policy Statement, the LGA’s approach to the Spring Budget on 15 March 2023, and updates on business rates and local external audit.

Members were informed of the following which had taken place since the writing of the report: 

·        The National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on the timeliness of auditor reporting and following that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) launched an inquiry on this issue which the LGA is submitting evidence to

·        The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) issued a two-week consultation on returning the deadline for draft audit accounts back to 31 May which the LGA is responding to

·        DLUHC published a consultation on the council tax valuation of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) which the LGA would write a response to for the end of March.

The Chair invited Jo Donnelly, Head of Pensions, to give an update. Members were informed that the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Local Government and Building Safety had responded to a letter from the Chair of the Scheme Advisory Board advising that he had asked officials to look into the possibility of separating pension fund accounts from main council accounts in order to minimise the impact of audit delays on the pension fund annual report and accounts.

Members made the following comments:

• Members thanked officers for their lobbying in advance of the 2023/24 settlement but raised concerns over another single year settlement and lots of different, often one-off, funding pots.
• There were concerns that despite encouragement from Government to use reserves to help address inflationary pressures, reserves would not be sufficient. It was requested that an item on reserves be brought to a future meeting of the Board.
• There were strong concerns that proposed changes to the valuation for council tax purposes of HMOs would have large financial implications for councils with one Member raising that 20% of a ward are HMOs.
• It was requested that Members be provided with further information relating to councils under formal intervention.

Members were encouraged to put forward further statistics and evidence from their councils on HMOs.

Decision:

Members noted the report.

Action:

• Report on council reserves to be brought to a future meeting of Resources Board.
• That further information relating to councils which were under formal intervention be circulated to Members.