Housing Options Directorate

Service Plan

Cornwall Housing

Treven Kernow

Date: 2016/17

Version 2.0

Procedure control sheet

Current document status Status Final

Reference Business Improvement/Plans and Documents

Last reviewed 05/03/2013 13/03/2013 01/05/2013 10/05/2013 Sections amended since last version 1,2,3,4,5,6, 7 Contents Page,7, key objectives Reason for change Amendments to references of CC DLT feedback Document type Word/template Document location TG/Projects/ Housing templates

Directorate Resources

Notes:

Version history

Date Date for Approve Version Version created Author/s Revised by approved review d by

V0.1 05/03/2013 T Goodchild

V0.2 13/03/2013 T Goodchild

V0.3 18/03/2013 T Goodchild

V0.4 02/04/2013 T Goodchild E Blatchford

V0.5 01/05/2013 T Goodchild

V0.6 10/05/2013 T Goodchild

V1.0 15/05/2013 T Goodchild

V1.01 7/4.15 E Blatchford

The plan will be published on our intranet and internet sites.

Other documents linked to this document:

Strategic plan (2014 – 2018)

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Table of contents

Page

1. Our focus for the Directorate 4

2. What we have achieved last year

3. What resources do we have available? 9

4. Efficiency and growth areas 10

5. Our performance and how we can improve

6. How we compare to other services

7. What future challenges do we face? 13

8. Key objectives for the forthcoming year 14

9. Significant risks

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1. Our focus for the Directorate

1. The core functions of the directorate are to deliver the statutory duties of provision of the housing options and advice service, homelessness and temporary accommodation/move-on services, as well as the operation of the housing register and Cornwall Homechoice, the choice based lettings partnership which allocates the majority of social rented homes in Cornwall. The service must ensure that the advice services we provide align to the Council’s key strategic priorities and meet the needs as identified in key needs assessments, including the Homelessness Review which forms part of the development of the Council’s Homelessness Strategy. The directorate also has the responsibility for the development of the Council’s new 5 year Homelessness Strategy and delivery of the associated action plan. A new area of business, launched late in 2014/15 is the ‘Cornwall Housing Private Lets’ scheme – a private sector lettings agency, with income generation targets for the general fund.

2. Our customers are primarily members of the public who are seeking advice regarding their housing circumstances. The range of queries and issues are vast in terms of urgency, individual needs and complexity. What is important is that the service can respond in a timely, proactive, professional and courteous manner, getting the response ‘right first time’. The service is delivered across the whole of Cornwall via a range of face to face locations (primarily , , , and ) as well as via local surgeries and home visits. Teams vary in terms of service areas located in one office, and there is limited co-location with other services / organisations, although there are many examples of effective joint working, such as in the field of youth homelessness. Partnership working is key to the delivery of our strategic objectives and a variety of partnerships exist to this end. This year, our accommodation review will change how our teams work together and the locations we work from.

3. Challenges over the coming year include the implementation of the Allocations policy review, including cleansing of the register to ensure accurate data is held, managing the impact of Welfare Reform (introduction of Universal Credit), the reduction in Adult Social Care Funding, affecting internal service provision (eg hostels) as well as external services thought which we meet specific housing needs, maintaining ‘No Second Night Out, and achieving the Silver status under the ‘Gold Standard’ for Housing Options in Cornwall.

4. Opportunities include the implementation of a single IT system for the company/directorate, which will commence this year. This should also deliver some efficiencies in terms of ways of working as well as assist with bringing teams together as part of a wider prevention service. Further opportunities are presented for bringing the teams together as part of the accommodation review. As such, the service will undergo further service redesign to make the most of

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accommodation/geographical hubs in Camborne and , which will again offer the chance to improve working relationships, due to team adjacencies, and enable us to work more smartly in a modern working environment.

Challenges & Opportunities

• Political – housing (in its widest sense) remains a priority for with a new ‘Housing Mandate’ setting out some of the ambition for Cornwall in terms of new development, links with the private sector, and the role of Council housebuilding. In recent years, the housing agenda has enjoyed relatively positive support, with a general affordable housing funding commitment, the appetite to support Cornwall Housing developing homes, but at a relatively small scale compared with other Registered Providers. The Council’s strategic housing function is changing following the Council restructures, and we hope to see stronger direction as a result. The Allocations Policy review did not deliver as extensive changes as it might have, and the implementation in year may raise the profile of this again, with the National agenda around mobility getting more profile. Nationally, housing is a strong feature of the political agenda once again, now more closely linked with delivery. Future funding, such as the ‘Homelessness Grant’ from Communities & Local Government may no longer be forthcoming, and we may be increasingly required to seek funding opportunities and grants to develop new initiatives.

• Economic –In terms of the labour market, the two measures of worklessness – those economically inactive and those unemployed show different patterns over time. Some facts about the Cornish labour market, taken from the ‘State of the Economy Report, December 2014 are as follows: o Cornwall has high levels of self-employment, the fifth highest level in the country, 21% compared to 14% for the UK (Annual Population Survey 2013/14). Self-employment earnings have declined since 2002-03, but are showing signs of recovery. Median self-employed earnings are still relatively low at £10,500 (HMRC, Personal Income Statistics 2012/13). o Jobseeker numbers are in line with national average but there are seasonal and locality variations. There are a higher proportion of people claiming benefits for long term ill health than the south west and national average. o The economy in Cornwall has been growing over the last decade, but it remains the weakest economy in the country in 2013. Job numbers declined during the recession but have returned to pre-recession levels, although the make-up of the job market is weaker, with more part-time workers (41% Business Register and Employment Survey 2013), fewer jobs in high pay sectors and potential ‘underemployment’ (where a person wants to work more hours than is usual or stated under their current employment contract).

5 o Since 2001 Cornwall has seen a large increase in the number of people educated to degree equivalent or above linked to investment in local higher/further education opportunities. o Wage levels are lower than average with earnings in 2014 at £17,344 (79% of the UK average) (Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Workplace Based, Median Annual Gross Pay for all employees, 2014).

The homelessness strategy strongly links housing to health and wellbeing, as well as economic activity in terms of training, employment opportunities as part of addressing housing need.

• Social – the service is particularly susceptible to customer attitudes and opinions specifically in the area of customer expectation, and generational housing need issues. Key legislative changes, such as the welfare reform agenda, will also have social impacts and the full effects are as yet unknown, but could affect demographics, education and health.

• Technology – the technology used in the service – primarily Abritas (Homechoice, Enhanced Housing options) and Peter Lally (Housing Advice, Homelessness & Temporary Accommodation) are scheduled for replacement this year, due to the existing contracts and procurement arrangements. The Company is investing in Capita as the main IT provider across the company and there are opportunities for greater efficiencies in practice at the front line, following successful implementation. Legislation and policy changes require that this technology is correctly configured (eg to assess housing need correctly, or to record key data effectively for reporting etc) and this not only present useful tools to us, but also a challenge, in terms of cost and lead-in times to make any changes. Making use of the internet and ‘self serve’ solutions will increasingly be required. Not only to create capacity within the workforce, but also to move with the times. For example, shortly, all claimants of universal credit will be expected to clam on-line. It is time for the service to modernise, yet retain quality and good customer service.

• Legal – Many of the legislative changes in relation to welfare reform will have a direct impact on the service, whether in terms of demand for advice, homelessness increases, or changes in activity on Homechoice. The National Practitioner Support Service, via National Housing Advice Service, provide best practice advice and guidance to Housing Options, as well as monitoring the delivery of the Gold Standard improvement programme. The Localism Act is also particularly relevant in relation to the potential freedoms and flexibilities that could be applied in terms of the Allocations Policy, as well as the introduction of flexible and fixed term tenancies and the ‘private rented sector offer’ legislation for homelessness acceptances. There is the opportunity for more to be done in this area.

• Environmental – The service changes planned as part of this year’s restructure will improve service delivery and performance but are set in a context of wider change within the organisation, in terms of other processes

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(such as call handling) and it will take time to achieve our desired operating model. There are also issues around office space, location, interactions within and between teams and some organisational culture issues which will no doubt come to the surface as part of implementation and adjustment to new teams and locations. Staff morale is also a real factor to contend with, and any change does tend to have an unsettling influence. Staff engagement is on the whole good and as a directorate communication and engagement is a top priority. Cornwall Housing’s Communication strategy sets out some minimum standards around staff engagement and messages.

• People – The ‘to be’ structure is still being finalised and it is likely that headcount will reduce to meet some of the efficiency targets for the company. The service has reduced senior management by one to date. There are some temporary additional staffing roles in the structure to assist with some projects such as Cornwall Housing Private Lets, and No Second Night Out, which remain under scrutiny to assess success of these approaches. A key priority to ensure we can meet our service needs is to continue to improve skills of our staff via training to ensure that each staff grouping is well equipped for their role. Affordability of people is a challenge, with savings required across the organisation of 15%. There is a challenging set of efficiency measures identified to support this target. Levels of sickness are being well managed, and the organisation producing effective reporting on sickness, with an improving focus on health and wellbeing. Formal procedures are in place where required. The organisation is continuing its staff appraisal system, Roles & Goals, and it will be important for all managers and staff to engage positively in this process, to engage staff and ensure clear priorities are set and monitored and that the training plan is implemented, given that previous years have not been fully successfully delivered.

2. What we achieved last year

What we achieved last year In the last year we have achieved:

Projects:

• A new five year Homelessness Strategy launched and governance, delivery plan and monitoring framework developed • Successful application for Silver Standard achieved • Full restructure of service completed, to align operational teams with Homelessness Strategy objectives, and to support the Company Accommodation Review Project around co-location of teams • Developed and launched the new Cornwall Housing Private Lets brand as part of the company’s growth agenda

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Partnerships:

• Commencement of joint working arrangements with the Multi-agency Referral Unit (MARU) and Early Help Hub (EHH) to improve responses for new family and single referrals for assistance into these • Strengthened existing and established new partnerships in relation to the delivery of key objectives from the Homelessness Strategy, such as Hospital Discharge pathway.

Performance:

• Achieved a reduction in overall totals in Temporary Accommodation (National Indicator 156 in Cornwall Council Corporate Basket) and target well exceeded (currently 260 against 335 target and down from 348 at end of April 2014). • Use of B&B has seen a further reduction from 46 households in March 2015 to 36 at the end of January 2016. • Families with children in B&B over 6 weeks have remained relatively constant with 0 being consistently maintained, with only an occasional case exceeding this. • Prevention and relief outcomes have decreased slightly from an average of 406 cases per quarter in 2014/15 to 327 cases per quarter as at 31/12/16. • Total discharge of homelessness duty (ie households leaving temporary accommodation and duty ending) slightly lower than new homelessness acceptances. The aim is that new homelessness acceptances are fewer than the number leaving temporary accommodation to enable a continued reduction in the use of temporary accommodation. The result being that whilst there is a downward trend in numbers in temporary accommodation, this reduction is less than targets predicted. • Quarter 3 2015/2016 shows an increase in the register of just under 8% compared to the same quarter 2014/2015 The Directorate sets out the year with an overall balanced budget across both entities. Whilst we have met our efficiency targets across CC and CHL during 2015/16, we have seen overspends in the Council retained budgets, due in the main to high void numbers and long void periods in the PSL stock. Whilst this performance area is improving, this position cannot be recovered for year end.

The projected outturn for 2015/16 is as follows: CC £477k negative variance Period 9 (of which £371k due to PSL) CHL £322k positive variance Period 8

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3. What resources we have available 1. Budget - the general fund budget is complex in that a proportion is ‘retained’ by the client, Cornwall Council, with a further element being paid over to Cornwall Housing via the annual management fee. There are proposals to transfer all general fund budgets to CHL in year.

2. Cornwall Council budget (supplied by Amy Lloyd)

£m Budget 2016/17 2.662 Budget for 2015/16 2.592 Efficiencies/savings 2016/17 0.466 Growth/pressures 0.536 Budget 2016/17 2.662

3. Cornwall Housing budget

Budget 2016/17 £2,372,864 Budget 2015/16 £2,644,000 Budget 2016/17 £2,372,864

4. Efficiency savings and growth areas

The directorate has the following savings targets for 2016/17 as detailed via the Council’s budget setting process and the Company’s budget setting process.

Details of the CC corporate efficiencies are listed below:

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MTFS Saving 2016/17 Reference Description £m EEE75 Co rnwall Ho using Limited, 0.094 savings to o ffset inflatio n EEE83 Cornwall Housing using FIT from 0.186 PV panels (£160,000) on housing stock to support the cost of the current establishment within CHL, and to cover the cost of 1 FTE (£26K) within gypsy & travellers.

EEE16-001 Reduce management & 0.042 maintenance fee to CHL after deco mmissio ning Hendra Parc EEE16-002 Remove budget for capital 0.061 financing o f G&T site refurbishment. No longer required due to external funding. EEE16-003 Impro ving inco me co llectio n 0.022 processes, and recovery of HB for B&B, plus review of Shelter contract EEE16-005 Review of PSL model 0.061 Exisiting Savings 0.466

A further efficiency proposals in addition to those listed above is as follows

MTFS Saving Description 2016/17 Reference Reduction in B&B subsidy loss 0.100

Due to risks in relation to the current models for both the management of temporary accommodation, and the loans activity for prevention, these service areas and Council budgets have been awarded growth in 2016/17 as set out below:

2016/17 £m MTFS pressures: Inflation 0.094 Hendra Parc 0.125 Prevention Loans 0.100 TA Model 0.217

New Savings 0.536

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CHL has also agreed temporary growth of c£0.025 to enable a consultancy resource to develop a proposal for a new financial model for temporary accommodation. Note that the Council has assumed some savings to be delivered as a result of this during 2016/17 , although to date there is no tangible savings plan Member sign off of such a plan.

With the introduction of Universal Credit and the first homeless cases now coming into the Service and Temporary Accommodation, there may be pressures emerging before a new model has been developed.

5. Our Performance and how we can improve

The service collects a range of indicators on a weekly basis to track key areas of performance around demand, work flow, backlogs and compliance.

Key areas relate to numbers in temporary accommodation and length of stay, homelessness applications and decisions, voids and turnaround times, as well as key housing register data.

The service also reports quarterly to Communities and Local Government (CLG) in relation to P1E (Homelessness Provisions) and Mortgage Rescue performance

Annual reports of Rough Sleeper numbers (single night figures) are submitted annually.

There are a number of areas of improvement which are a focus for this year:

1. Reductions in overall numbers in temporary accommodation – target 201 2. Increase proportion of homelessness preventions to 25% of all inquiries where threat of homelessness recorded, across all main prevention areas. 3. Reduce number of households staying in temporary accommodation for 1 year 4. reduce the number of households in B&B from 60 to 20 5. reduce the number of 16/17s in B&B to 0 6. reduce Homechoice paper applications to less than 10% of all new applications 7. increase the percentage of accepted homeless households being made an PRS offer from 10% (Quarter 4 2012/13) to 20% by quarter 4 2013/14. 8. ensure that the number of households with homeless duty ending exceeds the total number of new homeless acceptances 9. reduce the rough sleeper total single night figure from 40 to 25

6. How we compare to other services

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There are few ALMOs who have a similar operating model to CHL. However, the following are possible comparators:

• Stockport Homes

The following are based in the South West: • Cheltenham Borough Homes • Gloucester City Homes • Poole Housing • Homes in Sedgemoor

There is some national benchmarking information available in the areas of homelessness, housing advice/prevention and use of temporary accommodation via the P1E national statistics. However, Housemark is yet to develop a suite of indicators to cover the Housing Options functions carried out in ALMOs such as CHL.

The national Gold Standard framework also provides some ability to benchmark best practice with other Options services. However, there is still limited take up nationally so whilst fora exist for sharing good practice, both locally, regionally and nationally, this can be ad hoc rather than structured.

Cornwall Housing is able to appraise other LAs’ submissions under the Gold Standard which allows for comparison and access to others’ best practice policies, which we can review/adapt locally if appropriate. One example of this is where we have utilised practice around access to the Council Discretionary Housing Payment budgets to support prevention activity during 14/15, which has extending into processes for 15/16.

CHL is also a member of the Devon & Cornwall Rough Sleeper Partnership and reports in to this group in terms of Cornwall’s compliance with the No Second Night Out agenda, and rough sleeper reductions and best practice.

There is benchmarking information available via CLG to enable CHL to compare performance against all other LAs in relation to the P1E statistics, and these are made available each quarter via the CLG website

The new National Practitioner Support Service (NPSS – formerly National Housing Advice Service) is developing a benchmarking tool and self- assessment toolkit for all LAs / Options services to measure value for money and service quality.

We will continue to work towards achieving Silver status during 2015/16 under the national Gold Standard programme.

7. What future challenges do we face (to our service)

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As set out in section 3 above, there are a number and variety of challenges that face the Directorate but essentially these are summarised as follows:

 How to do more for the same or less  How to manage customer expectations and move more towards an on-line model incorporating needs into the wider advice model  How to manage an Allocations Scheme efficiently, but bearing in mind political / policy constraints  How to maximise the use of the Private Rented Sector, but achieve sustainable outcomes, and achieve a new income stream that can support the general fund pressures.  How to manage the impact of fuller roll out of welfare reform, in particular how this relates to housing costs and temporary accommodation  How to deliver a more corporate prevention model  How to retain and support an effective partnership for the allocation of a range of social housing products  Working with a range of partners to reduce rough sleeping and tackle seriously entrenched cases  How to maintain a fully corporate approach to tackling homelessness

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10. Key objectives In the pages that follow detail your objectives. Use the table to be as specific as possible about what you are going to do, why you are doing it, how you are going to measure both progress and success, and finally what might stop you from achieving it. Remember the adage “what gets measured gets done” so objectives are not necessarily only about new or improved working, but should also aim to encompass key areas of “business as usual”

Business plan priority - Which business plan priority does this objective link to/or help achieve Outcome – this is the WHY? The effect that this objective will have on the organisation, your service, your customers and your stakeholders. Title Description Key Planned Start Planned Outcomes expected Corporate date completion or delivered Project date Y/N implement Implement & deliver the agreed Y (via Jan 2016 June 2016 New policy Allocations Policy changes to the Allocations Capita IT implemented and changes* Policy as set out by Cabinet in project communicated to Sept 2014, both operationally also) existing/new and via IT configuration in applicants, Members, accordance with CC policy partnership, staff changes. Key operating processes reviewed and fit for purpose Housing Options Continue service improvement No 1/4/16 31/3/16 Effective Gold Standard programme via GS Framework Homelessness (Silver – additional to achieve Silver status. Strategy and action challenges plan in place, which is achieved) Pursue Challenges 6 and 10 in embedded as a sequence to progress towards corporate priority Gold Standard across CC and CHL An effective Private Rented Sector offer for all. Not to place any families in B&B unless in an emergency (max 42 days) implement new Implement new IT modules for Y April 2016 Nov 2016 Improved efficiency Capita modules for the Housing Register/CBL and in terms of ways of our front line working across Housing Advice/Homelessness services* Directorate as replacement for existing systems Efficiency in terms of Annual Maintenance costs Single system in place which complies with all functionality / business requirements, as well as satisfying procurement and data security thresholds Carry out a review In depth review of cost, Y as part April 2015 June 2015 Objective assessment of the financial effectiveness of the current PSL of assets of as is model

2 model for temporary to inform future ways of action plan Potential procurement accommodation working to achieve best value and voids or route to market

(specifically Private and quality and efficiency action plan planned/underway Sector Leasing) (linked to growth in CC Medium with new leasing Term Financial Strategy – MTFS arrangements which - above) are fully compliant July 2015 September with all H&S best

2015 practice

Recommendations in relation to new processes with effective monitoring Demonstrable VFM and performance improvements. Cornwall Housing develop and grow our Cornwall Y 1/4/15 31/3/16 Anticipated income Private Lettings Housing Private Lettings levels achieved in Agency in line with Business accordance with Plan targets Business Plan Positive reputation with landlords and tenants Clear understanding for staff, partner of scheme objectives Review current Present options for future Y (for CC) Started March 2017 Options appraisal and model for funding models to CC to determine how 2016/17 recommendation for homelessness best to prioritise Council preferred option

3 prevention budgets to meet strategic Proposal for relevant objectives. Linked to risk due CC Portfolio Advisory to bad debt, and growth in CC Committee (PAC) to MTFS) assess – ideally to delivery savings against growth Strategically aligned sustainable model for prevention Increased capacity at front line review our key review our key operating N April 2016 Nov 2016 New teams have clear operating processes processes to develop capacity and efficient * across our front line teams, to processes being focus on service improvements, applied consistently including channel shifts towards and in accordance on-line access and linked to IT with policy system efficiency Simplified ways of working and potential non-cashable efficiencies for 16/17 develop our staff develop our staff by looking Y Commenced 31/3/17 Required levels of after their health, safety and during 15/16 skill and competency

wellbeing, as well as developing amongst specialist their skills and competencies to staff to ensure quality enhance individual and service of service and performance. statutory compliance around advice and

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homelessness. Evidenced via training records, quality sampling & performance statistics

*linked projects / links to CC projects and priorities. Budget Impact Recommendation to Client Response Further Action Pressure / Client Risk

BAD DEBT High level of recharge Consider associated with prevention papers/recommendations PRESSURE loans, repairs & maintenance emerging from financial NOT KNOWN and potential impact of benefit reviews referred to cap and UC rolling out on above. payments in TA could see greater impact on bad debt in Work with CHL in year if 16/17 new pressures emerge due to UC impacts.

Prevention Given that £823k of prevention That the budget is /loans initiatives are rechargeable remodelled to rely less /recharges (c95% will be in instalments) on recharges using can/should the budget income, DHP and limited continue to operate in this grants to facilitate way? The general fund reliance prevention. Paper for on loans/recharges as income PAC / Council pending no longer is a sustainable /in development during model going forward 15/16

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Budget Impact Recommendation to Client Response Further Action Pressure / Client Risk

PSL As with previous financial Consider options management years, high void numbers and presented following long turnaround times have review of PSL model. 14/15 Due Q2 2016/17. combined have led to a £405k projects overspend of £371k Participate in a review of overspent due to loss of rental income the scheme, taking into and overspends in Repairs & account the changing 22% void Maintenance/handback costs. subsidy regime (see Bad debt budget pressures separate risk 7% provision previously submitted that became apparent mid- in full) year 14/15 resulted in a recovery plan being developed Support procurement if by CHL, which included a required. programme of handbacks to

landlords. Approximately 40 15/16 PSL units were handed back Work with CHL to and this has compounded rent present 7% void target loss and R&M costs, due in options/recommendation part to the extent of works to PAC. Year end target required as well as rent being c20% paid due to lease terms during Budget the period of repairs being

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Budget Impact Recommendation to Client Response Further Action Pressure / Client Risk modelled on carried out. 195 properties on scheme For 15/16, the service has amended the lease with remaining PSL landlords to remove guaranteed rent being paid 52 weeks of the year, to propose payment for 49 weekly only, reducing expenditure to landlords.

However, risked too many landlords exiting the scheme due to less favourable terms.

16/17

Up to£1.5m Inability to collect TA income at risk due to due to UC direct payments and subsidy & UC housing assessment processes changes (legislation pending wef 1/4/17)

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Budget Impact Recommendation to Client Response Further Action Pressure / Client Risk

Redirection of CHL has been successful in That subsidy loss savings – TA reducing the use of all forms of reductions achieved in subsidy loss TA over recent years and has year are re-routed to the made a case to CC in 2012/13 service to off-set over- 2013/14 and 2013/14 that CHL spends in year and to performance has positively support the general fund £496k impacted the Council’s subsidy budget in future years reduction on loss claims due to reduced use should reductions be previous year’s of B&B in particular. maintained. loss Indeed, this case has been 2014/15 recognised by Michael Crich, who has included a £100k Was this savings £113k subsidy loss target as part of proposal assumed by reduction on the Corporate Savings Cornwall Council for presented to Cabinet. CHL has 15/16 or 16/17? previous year’s reduced B&B use to lowest loss levels for at least 2 years, and we expect to be able to

achieve this target. However, 15/16 this is not likely to be a saving which can achieve much more target to as once B&B numbers reduce again, as the majority of the reduce loss reductions have already been further by achieved. We are committed £100k to maintaining the reductions

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Budget Impact Recommendation to Client Response Further Action Pressure / Client Risk

achieved to date, however.

Homechoice There is a new system and a Partnership / new policy due to be Allocations implemented in 2016/17 Policy following delay during 15/16. There are a number of areas of risk arising as a result of this, which are largely recognised in the Council

Risk of partnership disbanding That any additional costs fully or in part incurred in relation to Risk of budget shortfalls due to income shortfall be met RP refusal to pay for by Council nomination right properties

Changing role for CHL and That early direction on system which may require clarity on scope role of Homechoice is provided to safeguard . partnership and enable development of the service with CHL

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