EXECUTIVE - City of Lincoln Council...Jul 02, 2012 · difficult financial situation that we are...
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EXECUTIVE SUPPLEMENTARY AGENDA SECTION A 3. Customer Access Strategy 4. Right To Buy: Reinvesting Receipts in New Affordable Rented Homes Monday 2 July 2012 6:00pm Committee Rooms 2 & 3, City Hall Page(s) (1 2) (3 13) (14 21) (22 28) (29 33)
Transcript of EXECUTIVE - City of Lincoln Council...Jul 02, 2012 · difficult financial situation that we are...
EXECUTIVE
S U P P L E M E N T A R Y A G E N D A
SECTION A
3. Customer Access Strategy
4. Right To Buy: Reinvesting Receipts in New Affordable Rented Homes
Monday 2 July 2012 6:00pm Committee Rooms 2 & 3, City Hall
Page(s)
(1 2) (3 13)
(14 21)
(22 28) (29 33)
ADDITIONAL ITEM 1 EXECUTIVE
2 JULY 2012
SUBJECT:
CUSTOMER ACCESS STRATEGY
REPORT BY:
DIRECTOR OF RESOURCES
LEAD OFFICER:
JOANNE CROOKES: CUSTOMER SERVICES MANAGER
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 To seek member approval of the draft Customer Access Strategy as attached as an
appendix to this report.
2. Background
2.1 Our existing Customer Access Strategy was agreed by Executive on 14 September 2009 and covered the period 2010 to 2011. The strategy set out our vision for customer service and seven aims followed by ten specific actions which were designed to help us achieve our aims.
2.2 Much of the strategy has been delivered and we have seen a big improvement to many aspects of customer service over the past two years. Notable successes have been:
the introduction of our on-line self service portal MyInfo
converting customers to cheaper methods of payment
improvements to the physical layout of City Hall
improvements to communication channels between customer services and the service delivery areas
a growth in email enquiries and online requests
3. New Strategy 2012 – 2014
3.1
The new strategy modernises our approach. In particular we acknowledge the difficult financial situation that we are working in and our strategy seeks to deliver efficiencies by concentrating on a corporate recognition of the need to make services and information readily available online for those customers who are able to self–serve.
3.2 In addition to the key priority of channel shift, there are six further aims which will deliver our vision for the coming years
Welcoming and professional staff
Provision of accessible and timely information
Equality of access to services
Encouragement of customer feedback and service improvements
Provision of good value services where they are required
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Clear performance measures and service standards
4. Resource Implications
4.1 All key schemes within the strategy are funded from existing budget provision
5. Legal Implications
5.1
No legal implications for approval of the strategy.
6. Policy Implications
6.1 (i) Equality and Diversity - The strategy supports our policies
7. Recommendation
7.1 That Members approve and endorse the strategy as attached at appendix one.
Access to Information: Does the report contain exempt information, which would prejudice the public interest requirement if it was publicised?
No
Key Decision No
Key Decision Reference No.
Do the Exempt Information Categories Apply
No
Call In and Urgency: Is the decision one to which Rule 15 of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules apply?
No
Does the report contain Appendices?
Yes
If Yes, how many Appendices?
One
Lead Officer: Joanne Crookes: Customer Services Manager
Telephone 873407
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Customer Access Strategy 2012-2014
Version 1.2 : 1 July 2012 VERSION / AMENDMENT RECORD
Version
Status
Release
Date Comments Amended By
V1.1 June 2012 First version agreed by CMT J Crookes
V1.2 1 July 2012 Amended following new website launch J Crookes
APPENDIX A
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Introduction - Our vision for Customer Services
Customer Service is at the very heart of everything we do at the City of Lincoln Council. As part of our new five year Strategic Plan (2012-17) we have underlined our vision to develop “a city with a strong sense of history, committed to sustainable growth and social justice.” The way we deliver services to our customers and how we support and engage them is essential to the success of each of the council‟s five priorities, which are to:
Reduce poverty and disadvantage
Seek to increase the supply of affordable housing
Improve the council‟s housing landlord function
Reduce Lincoln‟s carbon footprint
Develop a fit for purpose council Our vision and priorities are underpinned by new values that set out who we are and who we want to be. We will encourage all staff to adopt these values as they carry out their day-to-day work. Underlining each of our values is a desire to put the customer at the heart of everything we do. These values can be described through five key words that describe who we are:
Fair
Open
Ambitious
Green
Responsible We also have a set of Strategic Equality Objectives. One of these is: 'Our services are more accessible and do not discriminate on any unjustifiable grounds'. We recognise that these days our customers are varied. They may be local residents, businesses, visitors to the city, workers, students or people with special needs – and each has different reasons for contacting us and preferred ways of communicating their needs. The demographic profile of the city has changed dramatically in recent years and this will continue to bring us new challenges. What we have already achieved Our customer focus and Access to Services vision has been developed over a number of years, and in the recent past the council has successfully implemented a raft of initiatives to help us achieve our aims. These include:
Creation of a dedicated and focussed Customer Service Team
Development of a corporate contact centre
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Development of a corporate Communications Team
Establishment of a programme of Lean System reviews – putting customers at the centre of our operations
The development of a new Local Performance Framework
A review of cash handling operations
Improvements to the facilities in customer areas in City Hall
A review of City Hall opening times
The development of MyInfo, our on-line self-service portal
The establishment of a multi-skilled Web Working Group to drive further improvements forward.
Relocation of the Property Shop within City Hall bringing all customer access points under one roof
Introduction of text payments at council run car parks How our new Customer Access Strategy will move us forward This new customer access strategy moves us on to the next stage as we strive to reach our vision. It is intended to bring our aims and our customers‟ access to services up-to-date and to continue with improvements and efficiencies across all service areas. We recognise that our key focus in the coming months has to concentrate on how we can deliver excellent customer service and ease of access at the most efficient cost. This means that our first priority will be channel management. A shift from providing services face to face and over the telephone to providing, where appropriate to the customers needs, services on-line or through automated systems. These contact methods have advantages for both customers and the council. For customers:
o Information and services can be accessed 24/7 at their convenience o No time is wasted travelling to City Hall or making telephone calls o They save fuel, parking costs and reduce their phone bill
For the council:
o We can provide Information and services when customers want them o Providing information and processing transactions online is far cheaper
than involving staff o Providing information online is far cheaper and less wasteful than using
paper We have seven key aims which build on what has been achieved so far. The strategy will reflect current and future customer aspirations as well as the needs of the council. The aims are centred on improved access to services, improved customer service delivery, continuous improvement and „value for money‟ through the following high level action plan. More specific deliverables and timescales will form the detail of the individual delivery plans.
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Customer Access Strategy Action Plan 2012 - 2014
Aim One Channel Management
We are keen to move as much of our customer interaction as possible to online working. Evidence from our customers is that they are using the Internet in ever increasing numbers and they are interested in and willing to request services on-line and read and download information at their convenience. Channel shift will be an important tool in providing value for money services in the future. We are conscious of our vital role as a supportive and helpful public service organisation. For us, online interaction will never completely replace the friendly phone and face to face contact that we are proud of. However, where customers can interact with us electronically this will be convenient and cost-effective for them and could lead to significant cost savings for us. Current challenges
1. A brand new interactive website, built with the customer in mind, has been launched. The new website has better navigation, an improved search engine and a new, more relevant structure. It features lots of interactive elements, enabling visitors to report issues straight away and access their own information through the My Info service. All of the content featured on the old website has been completely refreshed to ensure it is up to date and relevant.
This improvement was well overdue and we must now ensure that the website is maintained at a high standard of accuracy and that managers across the council appreciate the importance of the website as our key interaction and information tool.
2. Evidence shows that people from low-income households are by-passing PC and laptop ownership altogether and accessing online services via their smart phones. Our standard website product may not deliver the level of functionality and ease of use required. 3. Our contact centre is very busy and a comprehensive demand analysis recently showed that many of the 300,000 annual calls and visitors we get could be facilitated on-line.
Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We will utilise our new website to its full advantage and will put the customer - rather than our organisational structure - at the centre. We will endeavour to have all the information that customers want on our website, including planning applications, improved data about residents‟ neighbourhood areas and local events. We will be offering an increasing number of online services and will expand and continue to develop our MyInfo service.
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2. We will launch a comprehensive publicity campaign and promotion of the MyInfo service and on-line transactions. All staff will be engaged in promoting electronic communication, suggesting the “Do it Online” option wherever possible to both new and existing customers. Senior managers will be responsible for ensuring that their services are available to be accessed electronically wherever possible and that information on the website is current and relevant. The website information will be the first development in any new service or transaction, rather than the final element to be addressed. 3. We will explore the introduction of a mobile version of our website to accommodate the increasing number of customers who access the internet via Smart phone or tablet devices. 4. We will provide staff with clear publishing procedures and guidelines to ensure that information is appropriate and easily accessed
Aim Two Welcoming and professional staff
The council is committed to providing a Customer Service Team that is courteous, friendly and helpful. Likewise, staff across the whole authority should be approachable and keen to help customers to find a resolution to any issue. We believe that customer service principles are integral to all of our service provision We need to equip our staff with the training and support that they require to enable them to do a great job of helping customers to access our services, find out the information that they need and resolve any problems they might have with services which are our responsibility - as well as signposting them to our local partners. Our aim is to provide an excellent standard of service and minimise customers‟ repeat or unnecessary contact.
Current challenges
1. All council employees are engaged in delivering or supporting the delivery of services to local residents. It is essential that staff consider customers needs, consult with them and remember that the customer is central to everything they do. 2. The variety of enquiries that are received by the customer service staff is very broad. In order to resolve as many issues as possible at the first point of contact it is essential that staff have access to the latest information and data. They need to be confident in the quality of their records to ensure that customers do not need to return. Until recently staff have had to use an unreliable website and they are still reliant on interrogating a range of different systems
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Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We are developing a transformational programme of Lean Reviews over the coming years. The Lean approach focuses on the needs of customers and designs service delivery and processes around what works best for customers at the receiving end. We will build a customer service focus into our recruitment processes, ensuring that we appoint staff with the relevant skills and aptitudes to work in a public service environment. We will introduce a customer service element to the induction programme for all staff. This will underline the principle of customer centric behaviours in all service areas. Customer service as a principle, must become a focus for the whole council and not be seen just as a front office function. We will continue to embed customer service in all areas of the council‟s business and the customer will be seen as central to all decisions and policies. Customer Service performance is monitored by the Leader of the council and will continue to be developed via our Customer Access Board. 2. Our new website and the ongoing development of online accounts will improve staff handling of enquiries as well as assisting on-line customers. Providing access for frontline staff to view a simple summary of a customer‟s details will reduce the length of time taken to handle enquiries.
Aim Three Accessible, relevant and timely information
It is essential that we communicate effectively with our customers. We will continue to use press releases, our website and all the media resources available to us and explore new ways. We will continue to offer translation and language interpretation where it is required. We want to improve the speed and quality of our response to enquiries by having our information in a format that can be easily accessed and understood. We will enable our customers to self-serve where appropriate, at a time and place convenient to them, by offering an increasing range of services through our website and exploring ways of harnessing new technology to bring our responses up to date In order to deliver answers to the straightforward requests and questions, which form the majority of enquiries in an efficient manner, it is vital that the customer service staff have access to a range of key information about the callers. Increasingly, customers want to be offered the option to obtain this detail by using self-service, often at a time outside of traditional office hours.
Current challenges
1. Technology and commerce has moved on and customers are used to online applications playing an increasing role in
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their transactions. Currently many processes that we use are designed for delivery by traditional means. 2. A recent analysis of customer demand has revealed a number of „failure demand‟ or unnecessary calls which often result from poor correspondence, misinformation or a lack of proactive communication on our part. 3. Staff do not have an easy central record to refer to when a customer calls. They do have access to vast amounts of relevant information and can view helpful digital documents, but the unwieldy process of accessing the data is not as efficient as it should be.
Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We will wherever possible simplify our processes and access to services will be electronic where this can be used to deliver the outcome that customers are looking for. 2. We will explore opportunities to communicate via SMS text messages, social media such as Twitter, and work in partnership with local radio stations and media publications We will ensure that we are keeping up-to-date with all the contact methods that our customers want to use to access information and services. 3. We intend to further develop and promote our MyInfo product which gives staff and customers the ability to see a summary of an individual‟s details. This will include, for example, Council Tax banding, current balance on Council Tax account, Housing Benefit in payment, last payment made, refuse collection date and so on - all in one easy to view summary. This will allow online customers to access information and report changes to their circumstances at their convenience, and allow customer service staff to assist customers who need help in a more efficient way
Aim Four Equality of access to our services
The council is committed to customer service principles and employment practices that make sure no one is treated less favourably, disadvantaged or discriminated against. We aim to provide equal and easy access to our services at a time, place and in a way that meets the needs of residents, businesses and others who contact us; irrespective of their age, gender, disability, financial ability, ethnic origin, race, religion, sexual orientation or geographical location. Throughout this strategy we emphasise the growing use of the internet in our communities, and are well aware of the financial savings that a reliable and effective on-line service will deliver. We are conscious however, that as a
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provider of community services we want to meet the needs of everyone. We want to help all individuals to access our services and those provided by others. In line with the council priority - Reduce Poverty and Disadvantage – we will continue to work with the portfolio holder for Social Inclusion and Community Cohesion to tackle inequality, particularly in terms of access to services provided by ourselves and partner organisations. Current challenges
1. For some residents, City Hall can be difficult to access owing to its location in the city centre. While it is relatively near to public parking and bus services, the cost of travelling into our offices can be prohibitive 2. While 30 million people in the UK use the internet on a daily basis there are still 8.4 million people who report that they have never gone online and do not know how to. Half of these live in socially deprived households and two thirds of them are aged 65 or over. Many of the customers who find they need help from the council, have complex and multiple special needs. These clients will often need more intensive assistance and are frequently unable to access services through a self-serve option. 3. Many of our customers are experiencing the effects of financial and social inequality. There are areas of high deprivation, financial exclusion and over-indebtedness. The city has 5 super output areas (areas of the city smaller than a ward with approx 1,000 to 2,500 residents each) that are within the 5% most deprived in the whole country 4. The location of the current customer toilet facilities in City Hall, behind a security door and on a lower level floor, makes access by people with disabilities difficult and we need to address this.
Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We will ensure that neighbourhoods have access to our services in their local area. This access will take the form of the provision of equipment within the community which residents can freely use to seek information, make service requests or inform us of changes to their circumstances. There will be assistance available from trained individuals who will help people to make the most of the availability of online reporting. This provision has already been established in Birchwood and the Abbey area and we will build on what we have learned in these „pilot‟ areas. 2. Since many residents are particularly vulnerable the online service provision will be supplemented by local area advice sessions. These already exist and generally take the form of weekly drop-in sessions where specialist staff
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advise customers and assist them to access their entitlements and rectify issues. The staff involved offer benefits advice, money management and housing advice. We will keep the location of these sessions under review and ensure that we are providing access in the right places. Where appropriate customers will be visited at their own homes. 3. We will lead the development of the shared service provision of a money advice network across the City of Lincoln and North Kesteven administrative areas. Making the most of expertise and reducing duplication this team will provide vital access to help with problem debt. The team will continue to advise individuals on additional sources of income including benefit entitlement and help them to obtain all the money and discounts that they are due. A series of targeted take-up campaigns will continue to promote public awareness of the changes to the welfare system. The implications of current welfare reform will be far-reaching and many of our customers will need to seek assistance to understand and deal with the effects of these changes on their quality of life. 4. Improve accessibility and customer comfort by making provision for a customer toilet facility on the first floor of City Hall, the main customer access level. The new plans will also reduce the need for staff to assist customers to get to and from the toilets and allow them to use their time more effectively.
Aim Five Encourage customer feedback and use it effectively
We will enable our customers to provide feedback easily through comments, complaints and surveys and use this detail to improve our service.
Current challenges
1. Traditional customer surveys have shown limited value. We have found that asking customers to rate our performance will often result in very low levels of participation, coupled with very high levels of satisfaction, which actually tells us next to nothing about how customers found the experience of accessing our services. 2. A post-repair postal survey has been used in the past by our Housing Team to establish whether, as landlords, we are offering a good repair service. While this received good response rates the returns were often received a long-time after the event, were expensive to administer in terms of printing and postage, and costly to input.
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Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. During the strategy period, the council will be embarking on a major piece of policy work to look at ways of increasing the democratic engagement of local residents in all aspects of the city council's decision making process. This will require major input from both the Communications Team in terms of promoting this work and the brand of the council generally and the Customer Services team to continue to champion the customer and provide access to high quality services. It will aim to develop more relevant feedback from customers, more useful data about what services they require and how they would like them to be delivered. It will glean more detailed and quality information by getting customers involved in specific activity such as customer focus groups and trialling. 2. We will operate a comprehensive tenant satisfaction assessment. This will involve our team contacting tenants who have just had a repair completed by phone, to establish whether their problem has been resolved. We will include questions about customer care, communication and the tidiness of the tradesman who has completed the repair, so that we can build a full picture of customer‟s views about the service offered. Our redesigned website will also make it clearer and easier for customers to provide feedback and let us have their comments. The new Local Performance Framework will measure levels of customer satisfaction across all service areas. The levels of satisfaction achieved will be published to our website, giving the public a clear view of how other customers view our services.
Aim Six Great value services where customers need them
We will aim to provide the best possible value, cut waste and use resources where they are needed by customers.
Current challenges
1. Certain customer enquiries are best dealt with by service area experts. The results of our Lean systems transformational reviews have shown that designing services to meet customer needs means having access to more flexible interview facilities
2. Many of our residents are vulnerable and in poor financial circumstances. The welfare system is rapidly changing and scores of people are missing out on income, and discounts that they are entitled to. In addition there are increasing levels of personal debt across communities.
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Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We intend to make further provision for two more interview rooms to meet the high demand for private facilities, where customers can complete their business with an acceptable level of confidentiality. Since evidence has shown that certain complex issues are dealt with more efficiently by face to face interaction, this detail will influence our choice of transactions to include as part of our channel shift project 2. The Welfare Team will build on its benefits advice pedigree and broaden its remit to take on debt advice. We are working in partnership with North Kesteven District Council to establish a joint Money Advice Centre, based on the success of their existing provision. This service is offered in the community and in people‟s own homes. We will also work closely with the credit union and other local partners to assist residents in the avoidance and resolution of financial problems
Aim Seven Clear performance measures and service standards
We will provide customers and staff with clear standards and expectations that reflect what they have told us is important to them.
Current challenges
1. In the past few years, councils across the country have been required to report a vast swathe of performance indicators. Many of these indicators have been deleted in an attempt to remove bureaucracy and realise efficiencies in working practices. This has left us with a void in terms of performance measures
Actions to help us to achieve our aim and address challenges
1. We are in the process of developing a meaningful range of performance indicators across all service areas. These will relate to cost measures, measures of performance in terms of outputs and outcomes and include measures of customer satisfaction with the services delivered.
This strategy is endorsed by the Directors and Portfolio Holders of the City of Lincoln Council and provides our Customer Service action plan until 2014 The document is intended primarily for members, officers and partners of the council and should underpin all customer related decisions taken by the council during the life of the strategy. A brief summary for customers is available on our website www.lincoln.gov.uk or on request.
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n
ega
tive
ST
EP
3
In
Se
ctio
n C
re
co
rd y
ou
r find
ings a
s a
re
su
lt o
f th
e
an
aly
sis
(th
is c
an
in
clu
de
‘no
im
pa
ct’ if
yo
u h
ave
evid
en
ce
of
no
equ
alit
y o
r hu
ma
n r
igh
ts
imp
act)
.
* E
vid
en
ce
co
uld
in
clu
de
in
form
ati
on
fro
m c
on
su
lta
tio
ns
; vo
lun
tary
gro
up
fe
ed
ba
ck
; s
ati
sfa
cti
on
an
d u
sag
e d
ata
(i.
e.
co
mp
lain
ts,
su
rve
ys
, a
nd
se
rvic
e d
ata
); a
nd
re
vie
ws o
f p
revio
us
str
ate
gie
s
ST
EP
4
T
he
re
spo
nsib
le o
ffic
er
(co
mp
letin
g t
his
a
sse
ssm
en
t) m
ust
now
ch
eck t
he
an
aly
sis
a
nd
sig
n S
ection
C,
and
ha
ve
th
e r
ele
va
nt
se
nio
r m
ana
ge
r a
lso
ch
eck a
nd
ap
pro
ve
th
is a
na
lysis
, a
nd
sig
n th
e r
ele
va
nt p
art
of
Se
ctio
n C
.
ST
EP
5
P
ub
lish
th
e a
na
lysis
(e
.g.
su
bm
it
to t
he
re
leva
nt
co
mm
itte
e)
alo
ngsid
e th
e p
olic
y,
pro
ject
or
se
rvic
e t
ha
t it fo
rms p
art
of.
ST
EP
6
M
on
ito
r an
d r
evie
w y
ou
r p
olic
y,
pro
ject
or
se
rvic
e o
nce it
ha
s
be
en
im
ple
me
nte
d to
en
su
re
an
y f
utu
re a
dve
rse
eff
ects
are
m
itig
ate
d. E
nsu
rin
g t
he E
qu
alit
y
An
aly
sis
is k
ep
t up
to
da
te w
ill
from
a c
ore
pa
rt o
f th
is.
15
SE
CT
ION
A
N
am
e o
f p
olic
y /
pro
ject
/ se
rvic
e
Cu
sto
me
r A
cce
ss S
tra
tegy
Aim
s o
f po
licy /
pro
ject /
se
rvic
e a
t o
uts
et
Imp
rove
me
nts
to
Cu
sto
me
r A
cce
ss
Is t
his
ne
w o
r e
xis
tin
g?
Exis
tin
g/b
ein
g r
evie
we
d
Pe
rso
n(s
) re
spo
nsib
le fo
r p
olic
y o
r d
ecis
ion
, o
r ad
vis
ing o
n d
ecis
ion
, a
nd
als
o r
esp
on
sib
le fo
r e
qu
alit
y
an
aly
sis
Jo
ann
e C
roo
ke
s:
Cu
sto
me
r S
erv
ice
Ma
na
ge
r
Ke
y p
eo
ple
in
vo
lve
d i.e
. de
cis
ion
-m
ake
rs,
sta
ff im
ple
me
ntin
g it
DO
R,
Cu
sto
me
r A
cce
ss B
oa
rd m
em
be
rs, W
eb
wo
rkin
g g
rou
p
16
SE
CT
ION
B
Th
is is to
be
com
ple
ted
and
re
vie
we
d a
s p
olic
y /
pro
ject
/ se
rvic
e d
eve
lop
me
nt
pro
gre
sse
s
Is
th
e lik
ely
eff
ect p
ositiv
e o
r n
ega
tive
? (
ple
ase t
ick a
ll th
at a
pp
ly)
Ple
ase
de
scrib
e t
he
effe
ct
an
d e
vid
en
ce
th
at
su
ppo
rts t
his
?*
Is a
ction
p
ossib
le to
m
itig
ate
a
dve
rse
im
pa
cts
?
De
tails
of
actio
n p
lan
ne
d
inclu
din
g d
ate
s, o
r w
hy a
ctio
n
is n
ot p
ossib
le
P
os
itiv
e
Ne
ga
tive
N
on
e
Age
Str
ate
gy s
up
po
rts p
uttin
g c
usto
me
rs a
t th
e h
ea
rt o
f se
rvic
e d
eliv
ery
an
d d
ecis
ion
s.
It e
xp
licitly
sta
tes
ou
r in
ten
tion
s t
o w
ork
to
ach
ievin
g e
qu
alit
y o
f a
cce
ss.
Sta
ff t
rain
ing a
nd
th
e a
cce
pta
nce
of
cu
sto
me
r ca
re a
s a
co
re c
om
pete
ncy f
or
all
role
s
ca
n o
nly
im
pro
ve
th
e s
itu
ation
fo
r gro
up
s a
t risk
Ye
s/N
o/N
A
Dis
ab
ility
As a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Ge
nde
r re
-a
ssig
nm
ent
As a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Pre
gn
an
cy
an
d m
ate
rnity
Ye
s/N
o/N
A
Ra
ce
A
s a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Re
ligio
n o
r b
elie
f
A
s a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Se
x
A
s a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Se
xu
al
orie
nta
tio
n
As a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Ma
rria
ge
/
civ
il p
art
ne
rsh
ip
As a
bo
ve
Y
es/N
o/N
A
Hu
man
Rig
hts
(s
ee
pa
ge
8)
Ye
s/N
o/N
A
* E
vid
en
ce
co
uld
in
clu
de
in
form
atio
n f
rom
co
nsu
lta
tio
ns;
vo
lun
tary
gro
up
fe
edb
ack;
sa
tisfa
ctio
n a
nd
usa
ge
data
(i.e
. co
mp
lain
ts,
su
rve
ys,
and
se
rvic
e d
ata
); a
nd
re
vie
ws o
f p
revio
us s
tra
teg
ies
17
Did
a
ny
info
rma
tio
n
ga
ps
ex
ist?
Y
/N/N
A
If s
o w
ha
t w
ere
th
ey a
nd
wh
at
will
yo
u d
o t
o f
ill
the
se
?
SE
CT
ION
C
De
cis
ion
Po
int
- O
utc
om
e o
f A
ss
es
sm
en
t s
o f
ar:
B
as
ed
on
th
e i
nfo
rmati
on
in
se
cti
on
B, w
ha
t is
th
e d
ec
isio
n o
f th
e r
es
po
nsib
le o
ffic
er
(ple
ase
se
lec
t o
ne
op
tio
n b
elo
w):
T
ick
he
re
N
o e
qu
ali
ty o
r h
um
an
rig
ht
Imp
ac
t (y
ou
r a
na
lysis
sh
ow
s t
he
re is n
o im
pa
ct)
-
sig
n a
sse
ssm
ent
be
low
[ ]
N
o m
ajo
r c
ha
ng
e r
eq
uir
ed
(yo
ur
an
aly
sis
sh
ow
s n
o p
ote
ntia
l fo
r d
iscrim
ina
tio
n,
ha
rassm
en
t)-
sig
n a
sse
ssm
en
t be
low
A
dve
rse
Im
pa
ct
bu
t co
nti
nu
e (
reco
rd o
bje
ctive
ju
stifica
tion
fo
r co
ntin
uin
g d
esp
ite
th
e im
pact)
-co
mp
lete
se
ctio
ns b
elo
w
[ ]
A
dju
st
the
po
lic
y (
Ch
an
ge
the
pro
po
sa
l to
mitig
ate
po
ten
tia
l eff
ect)
-p
rogre
ss b
elo
w o
nly
AF
TE
R c
ha
nge
s m
ad
e
[ ]
P
ut
Po
lic
y o
n h
old
(se
ek a
dvic
e f
rom
th
e E
&D
off
ice
r a
s a
dve
rse
eff
ects
ca
nt
be
ju
stified o
r m
itig
ate
d)
-ST
OP
pro
gre
ss
[ ]
Describe o
bje
ctive justification f
or
continuin
g,
When a
nd h
w w
ill y
ou r
evie
w a
nd
measure
the im
pact
after
imple
menta
tion?*
Checked a
nd a
ppro
ved b
y
responsib
le o
ffic
er(
s)
(Sig
n a
nd P
rint
Nam
e)
D
ate
Checked a
nd a
ppro
ved b
y s
enio
r m
anag
er
(Sig
n a
nd P
rint
Nam
e)
D
ate
When c
om
ple
ted,
ple
ase s
end t
o i
nfo
.eq
ualit
y@
lincoln
.gov.u
k a
nd i
nclu
de i
n C
om
mitte
e R
eport
s w
hic
h a
re t
o b
e s
ent
to t
he r
ele
vant
off
icer
in D
em
ocra
tic
Serv
ices. T
he
Equ
alit
y a
nd
Hu
ma
n R
igh
ts C
om
mis
sio
n g
uid
an
ce
to
th
e P
ub
lic S
ecto
r E
qu
alit
y D
uty
is a
va
ilab
le v
ia:
htt
p://w
ww
.equ
alit
yh
um
an
righ
ts.c
om
/ne
w-p
ub
lic-s
ecto
r-e
qu
alit
y-d
uty
-gu
ida
nce
/
18
Cit
y o
f L
inc
oln
Co
un
cil
Eq
ua
lity
an
d H
um
an
Rig
hts
An
aly
sis
To
olk
it:
Glo
ss
ary
of
Te
rms
A
dve
rse
Im
pa
ct.
Id
en
tifie
d w
he
re th
e C
ou
ncil’
s o
pe
ration
s h
as a
le
ss f
avo
ura
ble
eff
ect on
one
or
mo
re g
rou
ps c
ove
red
by t
he
Equ
alit
y A
ct
20
10
tha
n it
ha
s o
n o
the
r gro
up
s (
or
a s
ectio
n o
f a g
rou
p)
Dif
fere
nti
al
Imp
ac
t.
Id
en
tifie
d w
he
re a
po
licy o
r p
ractice
aff
ects
a g
ive
n g
rou
p o
r gro
up
s in
a d
iffe
ren
t w
ay t
o o
the
r gro
up
s.
Un
like
ad
ve
rse
im
pa
ct, d
iffe
rentia
l im
pa
ct
can
be
po
sitiv
e o
r n
ega
tive
. D
isa
bil
ity.
It
is d
efined
un
de
r th
e E
qu
alit
y A
ct
20
10
as ‘
ha
vin
g a
ph
ysic
al
or
me
nta
l im
pairm
en
t w
hic
h h
as a
su
bsta
ntia
l a
nd
ad
ve
rse
lo
ng
te
rm
eff
ect o
n a
pe
rso
n’s
abili
ty t
o c
arr
y o
ut
no
rma
l d
ay t
o d
ay a
ctivitie
s’.
P
hysic
al im
pa
irm
en
t is
a c
ond
itio
n a
ffe
ctin
g t
he
bod
y,
pe
rhap
s th
rough
sig
ht
or
he
arin
g lo
ss,
a m
ob
ility
difficu
lty o
r a
hea
lth
co
nd
itio
n.
M
en
tal im
pa
irm
en
t is
a c
on
ditio
n a
ffe
ctin
g ‘m
en
tal fu
nction
ing’, f
or
exa
mp
le a
le
arn
ing d
isabili
ty o
r m
en
tal he
alth
con
ditio
n s
uch
as m
an
ic
de
pre
ssio
n
Div
ers
ity.
Div
ers
ity is a
bou
t re
spe
ctin
g a
nd
va
luin
g t
he
diffe
ren
ce
s b
etw
ee
n p
eop
le.
It is a
lso
re
co
gn
isin
g a
nd u
nd
ers
tand
ing t
he
mix
of
pe
op
le
an
d c
om
mun
itie
s w
ho
use
se
rvic
es a
nd
the
ir d
iffe
rent
ne
ed
s.
D
isc
rim
ina
tio
n.
Dis
crim
ina
tion
ha
s b
ee
n d
efin
ed
as 'th
e u
ne
qu
al tr
ea
tme
nt
of
ind
ivid
ua
ls o
r gro
up
s b
ase
d o
nle
ss b
ecau
se
of
a p
rote
cte
d
ch
ara
cte
ristic –
se
e p
rote
cte
d c
ha
racte
ristic
E
xa
mp
le o
f d
iscrim
ina
tio
n:
An
em
plo
ye
r do
es n
ot off
er
a t
rain
ing o
ppo
rtu
nity t
o a
n o
lde
r m
em
be
r of
sta
ff b
eca
use th
ey a
ssu
me
th
at th
ey
wo
uld
no
t be
in
tere
ste
d,
an
d th
e o
ppo
rtun
ity is g
ive
n t
o a
yo
un
ge
r w
ork
er
Eq
ua
lity
. T
he r
igh
t of
diffe
rent
gro
up
s o
f pe
op
le t
o h
ave
a s
imila
r socia
l p
ositio
n a
nd
re
ce
ive
the
sam
e tre
atm
en
t:
Eq
ua
lity
An
aly
sis
. T
his
is a
de
taile
d a
nd
syste
ma
tic a
na
lysis
of
how
a p
olic
y,
pra
ctice
, p
roce
du
re o
r se
rvic
e p
ote
ntia
lly o
r a
ctu
ally
ha
s d
iffe
rentia
l im
pa
ct o
n p
eo
ple
of
diffe
ren
t P
rote
cte
d C
ha
racte
ristics
Eq
ua
lity
Ob
jec
tive
s.
The
re a
re s
pe
cific
str
ate
gic
ob
jective
s in
the
are
a o
f e
qu
alit
ies a
nd s
ho
uld
se
t o
ut w
ha
t se
rvic
es a
re s
ee
kin
g t
o a
ch
ieve
in
e
ach
are
a o
f se
rvic
e in
te
rms o
f E
qu
alit
y.
Eq
ua
lity
of
Op
po
rtu
nit
y.
E
qu
alit
y o
f o
ppo
rtu
nity o
r e
qu
alit
y o
pp
ort
un
itie
s m
ay b
e d
efin
ed a
s e
nsu
rin
g t
hat
eve
ryo
ne
is e
ntitled
to
fre
edo
m f
rom
d
iscrim
ina
tion
. T
he
re a
re t
wo
ma
in typ
es o
f equ
alit
y e
nco
mpa
sse
d in
equ
al op
po
rtu
nitie
s:
1.
E
qu
alit
y o
f tr
eatm
en
t is
co
nce
rne
d w
ith
tre
atin
g e
ve
ryo
ne
th
e s
am
e. T
hu
s,
in a
n o
rga
nis
atio
na
l co
nte
xt
it r
eco
gn
ise
s t
hat
institu
tio
na
l d
iscrim
ina
tion
ma
y e
xis
t in
the
fo
rm o
f unfa
ir p
roce
du
res a
nd
pra
ctice
s t
ha
t fa
vo
ur
tho
se
with
som
e p
ers
on
al att
ribu
tes, o
ve
r o
the
rs w
ith
ou
t th
em
. T
he
ta
sk o
f e
qu
al op
port
un
itie
s is th
ere
fore
con
ce
rned
with
th
e e
limin
atio
n o
f th
ese
ba
rrie
rs.
2.
E
qu
alit
y o
f o
utc
om
e f
ocu
se
s o
n p
olic
ies th
at e
ith
er
ha
ve
an e
qua
l im
pa
ct
on
diffe
rent
gro
up
s o
r in
tend
th
e s
am
e o
utc
om
es fo
r d
iffe
ren
t gro
up
s.
Evid
en
ce
. I
nfo
rmatio
n o
r d
ata
th
at
sh
ow
s p
roof
of
the
im
pa
ct o
r no
n im
pa
ct
- e
vid
en
ce
ma
y in
clu
de c
on
su
lta
tion
s, d
ocum
en
ted
dis
cu
ssio
ns,
co
mp
lain
ts,
su
rve
ys,
usa
ge
da
ta, a
nd
cu
sto
me
r a
nd e
mp
loye
e fe
ed
ba
ck.
Fo
ste
r g
oo
d r
ela
tio
ns.
Th
is is e
xp
licitly
lin
ke
d t
o ta
cklin
g p
reju
dic
e a
nd
pro
mo
tin
g u
nd
ers
tan
din
g.
G
en
era
l E
qu
ality
Du
ty.
Th
e p
ub
lic s
ecto
r equ
alit
y d
uty
on
a p
ub
lic a
uth
ority
wh
en
ca
rryin
g o
ut
its fu
nction
s to
ha
ve
‘d
ue
re
ga
rd’ to
the
ne
ed
to
elim
ina
te u
nla
wfu
l d
iscrim
ina
tio
n a
nd
ha
rassm
ent,
fo
ste
r go
od
re
latio
ns a
nd
ad
va
nce
equ
alit
y o
f op
po
rtu
nity.
Ge
nd
er
rea
ss
ign
me
nt.
T
he
pro
ce
ss o
f cha
ngin
g o
r tr
an
sitio
nin
g f
rom
on
e g
end
er
to a
no
the
r –
fo
r e
xa
mp
le m
ale
to
tra
ns-f
em
ale
or
fem
ale
.
19
Ha
ras
sm
en
t.
Th
is is u
nw
an
ted
beh
avio
ur
tha
t ha
s t
he
pu
rpo
se
or
eff
ect of
vio
latin
g a
pe
rso
n’s
dig
nity o
r cre
ate
s a
de
gra
din
g,
hum
ilia
tin
g,
ho
stile
, in
tim
idatin
g o
r off
en
siv
e e
nviro
nm
en
t.
Hu
ma
n R
igh
ts –
H
um
an r
igh
ts a
re th
e b
asic
rig
hts
an
d f
ree
do
ms th
at b
elo
ng to
eve
ry p
ers
on
in
th
e w
orld
-
se
e b
elo
w
Ma
rria
ge
an
d C
ivil
Pa
rtn
ers
hip
. M
arr
iage
is d
efine
d a
s a
'u
nio
n b
etw
ee
n a
ma
n a
nd
a w
om
an
'. S
am
e-s
ex c
ou
ple
s c
an h
ave
th
eir r
ela
tio
nsh
ips
lega
lly r
eco
gn
ise
d a
s 'c
ivil
pa
rtn
ers
hip
s'.
Civ
il p
art
ne
rs m
ust
be
tre
ate
d th
e s
am
e a
s m
arr
ied
co
up
les o
n a
wid
e r
an
ge
of
lega
l m
atte
rs.
Sin
gle
p
eop
le a
re n
ot
pro
tecte
d.
Dis
crim
inatio
n o
n g
rou
nd
s o
f m
arr
iage
or
civ
il p
art
ne
rsh
ip is p
rohib
ite
d u
nde
r th
e A
ct. T
he
pro
hib
itio
n a
pp
lies o
nly
in
re
latio
n to
em
plo
ym
en
t a
nd n
ot
the
pro
vis
ion
of
go
od
s a
nd
se
rvic
es.
Pre
gn
an
cy a
nd
Ma
tern
ity.
Pre
gn
an
cy is t
he c
on
ditio
n o
f be
ing p
regn
an
t o
r e
xp
ectin
g a
ba
by.
Ma
tern
ity r
efe
rs t
o t
he
pe
rio
d a
fte
r th
e b
irth
, an
d is
linke
d to
ma
tern
ity le
ave
in
th
e e
mp
loym
en
t co
nte
xt.
In
the
no
n-w
ork
co
nte
xt,
pro
tectio
n a
ga
inst m
ate
rnity d
iscrim
ina
tion
is f
or
26
we
eks a
fte
r giv
ing b
irth
, a
nd
th
is inclu
de
s t
rea
tin
g a
wo
ma
n u
nfa
vo
ura
bly
be
ca
use
sh
e is b
rea
stf
ee
din
g.
Pro
tec
ted
Ch
ara
cte
ris
tic
s.
Th
ese
are
the
gro
un
ds u
po
n w
hic
h d
iscrim
ina
tio
n is u
nla
wfu
l. T
he
cha
racte
ristics a
re:
A
ge
D
isa
bili
ty
G
en
de
r re
assig
nm
en
t
M
arr
iage
an
d c
ivil
pa
rtn
ers
hip
P
regn
an
cy a
nd
ma
tern
ity
R
ace
R
elig
ion
an
d b
elie
f (in
clu
din
g la
ck o
f b
elie
f)
S
ex/g
en
de
r
S
exu
al o
rie
nta
tio
n
Pu
bli
c f
un
cti
on
s.
The
se
are
an
y a
ct
or
activity u
nd
ert
ake
n b
y a
pu
blic
au
tho
rity
in
re
latio
n t
o d
eliv
ery
of
a p
ub
lic s
erv
ice
or
ca
rryin
g o
ut
du
tie
s o
r fu
nction
s o
f a
pub
lic n
atu
re e
.g.
the
pro
vis
ion
of
po
licin
g a
nd
priso
n s
erv
ice
s,
he
alth
ca
re,
inclu
din
g r
esid
en
tia
l ca
re o
f th
e e
lde
rly,
go
ve
rnm
ent
po
licy m
akin
g o
r lo
ca
l a
uth
ority
se
rvic
es.
Ra
ce
. T
his
refe
rs t
o t
he
pro
tecte
d c
ha
racte
ristic o
f ra
ce.
It r
efe
rs t
o a
gro
up o
f p
eo
ple
define
d b
y t
he
ir r
ace
, co
lou
r, a
nd n
atio
na
lity (
inclu
din
g
citiz
en
sh
ip)
eth
nic
or
na
tio
na
l o
rigin
s.
Re
lig
ion
or
be
lie
f.
Relig
ion
ha
s t
he
me
an
ing u
su
ally
giv
en
to
it b
ut b
elie
f in
clu
de
s r
elig
iou
s a
nd p
hilo
so
ph
ica
l b
elie
fs in
clu
din
g la
ck o
f be
lief
(e.g
. a
the
ism
). G
en
era
lly,
a b
elie
f sh
ou
ld a
ffe
ct
yo
ur
life
ch
oic
es o
r th
e w
ay y
ou
liv
e f
or
it to
be
inclu
de
d in
the
defin
itio
n.
Se
cti
on
11
of
the
Ch
ild
ren
Ac
t.
Th
is d
uty
is a
duty
un
de
r th
e C
hild
ren
Act 2
00
4 th
at
requ
ire
s a
ll a
ge
ncie
s w
ith
re
sp
on
sib
ilitie
s to
wa
rds c
hild
ren
to
dis
cha
rge
th
eir fu
nctio
ns w
ith
re
ga
rd t
o th
e n
eed
to s
afe
gu
ard
an
d p
rom
ote
the
we
lfa
re o
f ch
ildre
n. T
he
y m
ust
als
o e
nsu
re th
at a
ny b
ody
pro
vid
ing s
erv
ice
s o
n th
eir b
eh
alf m
ust d
o t
he s
am
e. T
he
pu
rpo
se
of
this
du
ty is t
ha
t a
ge
ncie
s g
ive
ap
pro
pria
te p
rio
rity
to
safe
gu
ard
ing c
hild
ren
a
nd
sh
are
co
nce
rns a
t a
n e
arly s
tage
to
en
cou
rage
pre
ve
nta
tive
actio
n.
Se
x. I
t re
fers
to
wh
eth
er
a p
ers
on
is a
ma
n o
r a
wo
ma
n (
of
an
y a
ge
).
Se
xu
al
Ori
en
tati
on
. A
pe
rson
's s
exu
al att
ractio
n is to
wa
rds t
he
ir o
wn
se
x;
the
opp
osite
se
x;
or
to b
oth
se
xe
s:
Le
sb
ian,
Ga
y o
r B
ise
xua
l V
icti
mis
ati
on
. V
ictim
isa
tio
n ta
ke
s p
lace w
he
re o
ne p
ers
on
tre
ats
an
oth
er
less fa
vo
ura
bly
be
cau
se
he
or
sh
e h
as e
xe
rcis
ed
th
eir le
ga
l righ
ts in
lin
e w
ith
th
e E
qua
lity A
ct
201
0 o
r h
elp
ed
so
me
one
els
e to
do
so
. V
uln
era
ble
Ad
ult
. A
Vu
lne
rab
le A
du
lt is d
efin
ed
as s
om
eo
ne
ove
r 1
6 w
ho
is o
r m
ay b
e in n
eed
of
com
mu
nity c
are
se
rvic
es b
y r
ea
so
n o
f m
en
tal
or
oth
er
dis
ab
ility
, a
ge
or
illn
ess a
nd
wh
o is o
r m
ay b
e u
na
ble
to
ta
ke c
are
of
him
/he
rse
lf o
r u
nab
le t
o p
rote
ct h
im/h
ers
elf a
ga
inst
sig
nific
an
t ha
rm
or
exp
loita
tio
n’
Hu
ma
n R
igh
ts
20
Hu
man
rig
hts
are
th
e b
asic
rig
hts
an
d f
ree
dom
s t
ha
t b
elo
ng t
o e
ve
ry p
ers
on
in
th
e w
orld
. T
he
y h
elp
yo
u to
flo
urish
and
fu
lfill
yo
ur
po
ten
tia
l th
rou
gh
:
b
ein
g s
afe
and
pro
tecte
d f
rom
ha
rm
b
ein
g t
rea
ted
fa
irly
an
d w
ith
dig
nity
liv
ing t
he
life
yo
u c
ho
ose
takin
g a
n a
ctive
pa
rt in y
ou
r co
mm
un
ity a
nd
wid
er
so
cie
ty.
The
Hum
an R
igh
ts A
ct
19
98
(a
lso
kn
ow
n a
s th
e A
ct o
r th
e H
RA
) cam
e into
fo
rce
in t
he U
nite
d K
ingdo
m in
Octo
be
r 2
000
. It is c
om
po
sed
of
a
se
rie
s o
f se
ctio
ns t
ha
t h
ave
th
e e
ffe
ct of
cod
ifyin
g t
he
pro
tection
s in
th
e E
uro
pe
an C
on
ve
ntio
n o
n H
um
an
Rig
hts
into
UK
la
w.
The
Act se
ts o
ut th
e f
un
dam
en
tal righ
ts a
nd
fre
edo
ms th
at
ind
ivid
ua
ls in
the
UK
ha
ve
acce
ss t
o. T
he
y in
clu
de
:
R
igh
t to
life
Fre
ed
om
fro
m to
rtu
re a
nd
in
hum
an
or
de
gra
din
g t
rea
tme
nt
Rig
ht
to lib
ert
y a
nd
se
cu
rity
Fre
ed
om
fro
m s
lave
ry a
nd
fo
rce
d la
bo
ur
Rig
ht
to a
fa
ir t
ria
l
N
o p
un
ish
me
nt w
ith
ou
t la
w
R
esp
ect fo
r yo
ur
priva
te a
nd
fa
mily
life
, h
om
e a
nd c
orr
esp
on
de
nce
Fre
ed
om
of
tho
ugh
t, b
elie
f an
d r
elig
ion
Fre
ed
om
of
exp
ressio
n
F
ree
dom
of
asse
mb
ly a
nd
asso
cia
tio
n
R
igh
t to
ma
rry a
nd
sta
rt a
fa
mily
Pro
tection
fro
m d
iscrim
ina
tio
n in
re
spe
ct of
the
se
th
ese r
igh
ts a
nd f
ree
do
ms
R
igh
t to
pea
cefu
l e
njo
ym
ent
of
yo
ur
pro
pe
rty
R
igh
t to
edu
ca
tion
Rig
ht
to p
art
icip
ate
in
fre
e e
lectio
ns
Ma
ny e
ve
ry d
ay d
ecis
ion
s ta
ke
n in
th
e w
ork
pla
ce
ha
ve
no
hum
an
rig
hts
im
plic
atio
ns.
Ho
we
ve
r, b
y u
nd
ers
tand
ing h
um
an
rig
hts
pro
pe
rly y
ou
are
m
ore
lik
ely
to
kno
w w
he
n h
um
an
rig
hts
are
rele
va
nt
an
d w
he
n t
he
y a
re n
ot.
Th
is s
ho
uld
help
yo
u m
ake
de
cis
ion
s m
ore
co
nfide
ntl
y,
and
en
su
re
tha
t yo
ur
de
cis
ion
s a
re s
ou
nd
an
d fa
ir.
21
ADDITIONAL ITEM 2
EXECUTIVE 2 JULY 2012
SUBJECT:
RIGHT TO BUY: REINVESTING RECEIPTS IN NEW AFFORDABLE RENTED HOMES
REPORT BY:
DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES/DIRECTOR OF RESOURCES
LEAD OFFICERS:
DENIS POWELL, HOUSING SUPPORT SERVICES MANAGER LES TOYNE, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT – HOUSING
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 To seek endorsement of a decision by the Director of Housing & Community Services and Director of Resources to enter into an agreement with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) that will allow the City Council to retain capital receipts and reinvest in the provision of new affordable rental homes.
2. Executive Summary
2.1 The Right to Buy (RTB) Scheme was first introduced in legislation in 1980 and gives council tenants the statutory right to buy their home at a discount.
2.2 The original RTB Scheme has been subject to changes by successive
governments including changes to the qualifying period of tenancy, discount entitlement, maximum discount allowed and „cost floor‟ rules.
2.3 The Housing Act 2004 increased the qualification period for RTB from 2 years to 5
years of tenancy which had the effect of changing the discount range for houses from 35-60% and 50-70% for flats: both subject to a regional cap on the maximum discount. For Lincoln and the East Midlands this cap was set as a maximum discount of £24,000.
2.4 In April this year the Government announced changes to the cap on the maximum
discount increasing it to a maximum of £75,000 whilst maintaining the qualification period and existing percentage discount ranges.
2.5 At the same time the Government committed to ensure that every additional home
sold under RTB is replaced by a new home and committed to recycle RTB capital receipts towards the cost of replacement and repayment of debt on the home sold under RTB: “The Reinvigorating Right to Buy and One for One Replacement Programme”.
22
2.6 Under the current rules once the Council‟s costs relating to the sale of a dwelling sold under the RTB have been covered, the Council retains 25% of the net RTB Receipt (after discount) with the other 75% going to the Treasury. The Treasury‟s public expenditure plans include forecast 75% RTB receipts which are built into the Government deficit reduction plan. The Council‟s Housing Business Plan and “self-financing settlement” also include assumptions about forecast 25% RTB receipts on the basis of the pre-April RTB rules and discounts.
2.7 The Government consulted on the best way to ensure delivery of their “one for
one replacement” commitment on 3 models:
Local delivery – leaving receipts with the local council for re-investment locally
National delivery – pooling RTB receipts nationally to be allocated on a competitive bid process through the Homes & Communities Agency
A combined approach. 2.8 The Government chose a delivery model based on a combined approach in which
local authorities who have sold RTB properties will have the opportunity to enter into an Agreement with DCLG to retain RTB receipts locally to reinvest in replacement affordable rented properties subject to a maximum contribution from RTB receipts per new property of 30%.
2.9 The Director of Housing & Community Services and Director of Resources have
accepted the offer of the DCLG Agreement to retain RTB capital receipts locally. This report summarises the terms of the Agreement offered by DCLG and seeks Executive approval to endorse the decision to enter into such an agreement.
2.10 The deadline for signing such an agreement was 27th June 2012 and your officers
have signed this agreement. At this stage signing does not commit the Council to any policy but it will allow the Council to utilise any additional receipts received, over and above DCLG‟s forecasted figures, to underpin the Council‟s new affordable housing programme.
2.11 There are several rules and requirements that must be met under the Agreement
and the rest of this report explains both the rules and expectations of this policy shift and the possible implications for the Council.
3. The RTB Agreement
3.1 On 2nd April 2012 Ministers raised the cap on RTB discounts to £75,000 believing
that increased discounts will reinvigorate Right to Buy and increase RTB sales and also confirmed that RTB receipts from the additional sales (over and above the capital receipts already forecast in the Government‟s deficit reduction programme and those forecast in the self-financing settlement) that this would generate would be used to fund replacement housing on a one-for-one basis.
3.2 Details of how the scheme will operate are outlined in Appendix A entitled „Right
to Buy and one-for-one Replacement: Information for Local Authorities on How the “Local with Agreement” Delivery Model Works’.
23
3.3 In summary the Agreement allows:
the authority (the Council) to keep additional RTB receipts if it is prepared to enter into an Agreement with the Secretary of State;
the retained additional RTB receipts to be invested in the provision of replacement social housing;
the Council three years to invest those additional receipts
provides for “claw back” if those receipts are not invested in new housing within 3 years
3.4 The Agreement does not require the Council to complete the building of any new
replacement home within three years but it needs to have incurred sufficient expenditure so that the additional RTB receipts equate to no more than 30% of that expenditure.
3.5 In return the Council agrees:
i) that the additional RTB receipts will not make up more than 30% of total
spend on any replacement housing; and ii) to return any unused receipts to the Secretary of State with interest 4. The Agreement in practice
4.1 In order to understand how the scheme is likely to affect this Council it is
necessary to consider the practicalities of the calculation that determines what „additional receipts‟ means. It is not simply a case of retaining the 75% proportion that would otherwise be paid over to to the Treasury but is based on a complicated calculation of the additional receipts that might be generated from increased RTB sales, as a result of the increase in the discount cap, over and above that already anticipated in the self-financing settlement.
4.2 In other words it is not a straight one for one commitment to replace every home
sold under the RTB – only those additional homes sold over and above that already anticipated in the Treasury‟s forecast of RTB sales/receipts.
4.3 Executive will be aware of the changes to the council housing finance system
under “Self Financing” regulations which commenced on 2nd April 2012. The implications for this change resulted in the Council making a payment to DCLG of £24.931M. The Council has prepared a Housing Business Plan which demonstrates how the Council will, in future, fund its commitments to maintain its properties to Decent Homes Standard and provide housing services to meet the new National Housing Standards set by the Housing Regulator. The Council‟s Business Plan prudently forecast that during 2012/13 we anticipated sales of 5 dwellings under the RTB Scheme.
4.4 At the same time DCLG also provided their economic forecasts to HM Treasury which included anticipated capital receipts, from social housing providers, through the sale of RTB properties.
24
4.5 In determining what „additional receipts‟ each provider might “earn,” DCLG have made an assumption, based on regional averages, of the number of sales required by each provider before they may keep these receipts. In the case of Lincoln this figure is 15 sales (equivalent to capital receipts of £372,000).
4.6 The Agreement will therefore only “kick-in” and benefit the Council if, in 2012/13 we sell more than 15 properties and receive RTB receipts over £372,000.
4.7 Table 1 below sets out a worked example of how the calculation will operate in practice. This is illustrative only – actual figures will vary depending on the numbers sold, individual property valuations and net sale price after discount. The example assumes each home sold currently supports the same level of outstanding debt and produces the same RTB receipt.
Table 1: illustrative calculation
Assumptions:
Projected RTB Sales in self-financing settlement 15 dwellings
Local Authority assumed RTB income (25%) £155,000 Government assumed income (75%) £372,000 Assumed debt under self-financing £125,030 Attributable debt on each home sold £8,335 (per home) Transaction cost allowance £1,300 (for each sale) RTB receipts per sale under new discounts £41,645
Assume sales of 16 Dwellings (equivalent to 1 additional RTB sale)
Net Receipts (16 x £41,645) £666,320 Less allowable costs: Attributable debt (16 x £8,335) £133,360 Less assumed debt under self -financing £125,030 (see above) £8,330 Transaction allowance (16 x £1,300) £20,800 Total allowable costs: £29,130 Receipts after allowances (£666,320 - £29,130) £637,190
Additional receipts for “one for one” replacement under agreement:
Receipts after allowances: £637,190 Less Government assumed income (see above) £372,000 Less Local Authority assumed income (see above) £155,000 Money available for replacement homes under Agreement £110,190
4.8 The generated „additional receipts‟ in the worked example in Table 1 above of
£110,190 must be used to contribute 30% towards the cost of any replacement home. In reality this additional RTB receipts retained under the Agreement would supplement the £5.25 million allocated in the Housing Business Plan for a new build programme provided the Council is able to certify that a maximum of £30,000 per dwelling would be utilised from the additional receipts towards the
25
cost of any one individual dwelling: in effect the Council would utilise the £110,190 as 30% funding to any individual scheme and match fund the balance of £257,110 from the planned additional borrowing in the Business Plan for a new build programme.
4.9 If the Reinvigorating RTB campaign does not attract additional RTB sales then
signing the Agreement will have no impact on the Council. Should RTB sales exceed 15 pa the exact figure will depend on the valuation and net RTB receipts from the individual dwellings sold.
5. Strategic Priorities (i) Seek to increase the supply of Affordable Housing to rent or buy 5.1 This scheme, if successful, will provide the Council with additional resources that it
may use to increase the supply of affordable housing. There will remain a strategic decision between the amount of resources received and the balance available to fund the other 70% of any new build scheme.
(ii) Improve the performance of the Council’s Housing Landlord function 5.2 The provision of additional homes is, in itself, an improvement in the performance
of the Landlord. Each new home provided reduces the length of time someone is waiting for a suitable affordable dwelling.
(iii) Reduce the City’s Carbon Footprint 5.3 It is intended that any new affordable homes will be built to a minimum “Code
Level 4” (energy efficiency) which is a higher standard than the current building regulation requirements.
6. Organisational Impacts
(i) Finance
6.1 The financial impacts of the Council entering into an agreement with DCLG are set
out in section 4 and table 1 of this report 6.2 Any housing provider that retains its additional receipts and fails to commit
resources to affordable housing within 3 years will have to repay the additional receipt to DCLG together with accrued interest at a rate of Base Rate plus 4.00% per annum.
6.3 If additional RTB sales and RTB receipts are not forthcoming then the Agreement
is effectively meaningless and no penalties are payable. 6.4 The Council may choose to repay additional receipts to DCLG, if for example, it
cannot afford the balance (70%) of funding a new build scheme, without penalty. 6.5 Any significant increase in RTB sales over and above that assumed in the Housing
26
Business Plan could have a negative impact on the Business Plan in terms of lost rental income but this would be mitigated by any additional new homes built utilising the additional capital receipts.
(ii) Legal Implications incl Procurement Rules
6.6 The City Council may only retain additional receipts if the Agreement made, by
reference to Section 11(6) of the Local Government Act 2003 is signed and received by DCLG by noon on 27th June 2012.
7. Risk Implications
7.1 Essentially there are two options as follows: Option 1: To not sign the agreement
The implications of this would be that the Council would continue to pay to DCLG 75% of all capital receipts (subject to the allowances shown in section 5.5) from RTB sales
Option 2: Signing the agreement This provides the Council with the option of using any „additional receipts‟, from RTB sales, to provide affordable housing providing it can find the remaining balance of the scheme costs. The only inherent risk would be if receipts were held back from DCLG and any planned development did not take place within three years of the sale proceeds being retained. This could attract an interest charge of Base Rate plus 4% per annum. The risk of claw back is minimal as the Council has already committed its own resources to a new council house building programme.
8. Recommendation
8.1 Executive are recommended to:- a) Note and endorse the signing of the Section 11 Agreement with the DCLG; b) Utilise any additional RTB receipts retained locally under the terms of the
Agreement to supplement the planned council house building programme over the next 7 years.
Key Decision
No
Key Decision Reference No.
Do the Exempt Information Categories Apply
No
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Call in and Urgency: Is the decision one to which Rule 15 of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules apply?
No
Does the report contain Appendices?
Yes - 1
List of Background Papers:
Letter from DCLG „Right to Buy – Reinvesting Receipts – New Affordable Rented Homes‟ – 15 May 2012 Draft Agreement – Section 11(6) of the Local Government Act 2003 Technical Guidance for Finance officers „Reinvigorating Right to Buy (RTB): Retainment of Receipts for Replacement Housing Simple explanation of same (also Appendix to the report) „Right to Buy and One-for-One Replacement: Information for Local Authorities on how the “Local with Agreement” Delivery Model Works‟
Lead Officer: Denis Powell, Housing Support Services Manager Telephone 873219
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RIGHT TO BUY AND ONE-FOR-ONE REPLACEMENT: INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES ON HOW THE “LOCAL WITH AGREEMENT” DELIVERY MODEL WORKS 1. On 2 April 2012 Ministers raised the cap on Right to Buy discounts to
£75,000, and confirmed that receipts from the additional sales this would generate would be used to fund replacement stock on a one-for-one basis. At the same time Ministers confirmed that their favoured option of delivering these new homes would be through local authorities retaining receipts to spend in their areas.
2. In order for your authority to keep these additional receipts it will be
necessary for it to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
3. This paper seeks to give a simple overview of how such agreements work.
As such it is not a substitute for the agreements themselves nor the more detailed guidance we have provided to your finance officers.
4. The agreements are made under powers provided by section 11(6) of the
Local Government Act 2003 (as inserted by section 174 of the Localism Act 2011).
5. In short the Secretary of State agrees to
i. allow your authority to retain additional Right to Buy receipts to fund the provision of replacement stock, and
ii. allow your authority three years (from commencement of the agreement) to invest those receipts before asking for the money to be returned.
6. It is worth emphasising that the agreement does not require a local
authority to complete the building of any home within three years; rather the authority should have incurred expenditure sufficient that Right to Buy receipts form no more than 30% of it.
7. In return your authority agrees
i. that Right to Buy receipts will not make up more than 30% of total spend on replacement stock, and
ii. to return any used receipts to the Secretary of State with interest. The process 8. Our main aim was to make the process as light touch as possible with
minimal inspection or interference in your business activities. The agreements are concerned therefore solely with the flow of money in from receipts and out in investment in replacement stock.
9. Under the capital finance regulations that came into effect on 31st March
2012 your authority will (having deducted certain permissible amounts)
APPENDIX A
29
have to surrender Right to Buy receipts to the Secretary of State. This sum comprises two elements: i. HM Treasury’s share (i.e. the funding HM Treasury was expecting
to receive had the policy on Right to Buy not changed) and ii. funds available to invest in replacement stock (if receipts are
sufficiently high). 10. However the Secretary of State is willing to enter into agreements with
those local authorities wishing to invest in replacement stock to retain receipts above HM Treasury’s share.
11. It will be entirely the decision of your authority whether to enter into such
agreements and entirely its decision as to how much of the surplus receipt it retains.
12. Should your authority not wish to enter into an agreement then any surplus
receipts arising in your area will be surrendered to the Secretary of State and passed to the Homes and Communities Agency (or, in London, the Greater London Authority) for them to invest in replacement stock.
13. As set out above, the only condition in the agreement is that the retained
Right to Buy receipts must not constitute more than 30% of the total amount invested in replacement stock (which could mean newly built council homes, newly acquired council homes (i.e. existing homes bought on the open market) or social housing provided through local authority grants to housing associations).
14. The 30% cap is necessary to ensure that we get maximum value for
money from the Right to Buy receipts and enable the building of as many new homes as possible (indeed, more than one-for-one if that is feasible). Your authority (or the housing association you are grant funding) will be expected to fund the remaining 70% from its own reserves or through borrowing serviced by the anticipated rental income from the new homes built. To maximise borrowing it may be necessary to charge an Affordable Rent (i.e. up to 80% of market rent), but, in the case of new council homes, that is a decision for your authority.
15. Our intention is to encourage additional investment in new social housing.
It is not therefore permissible to use receipts arising from non-Right to Buy sales1 towards the local authority’s 70% contribution to scheme costs nor use funding already deducted from the Right to Buy receipts to cover the buying back of former council homes.
16. We have considered historic data, which confirms that 30% is realistic and
achievable.
1 Sales of housing assets other than those made under the Right to Buy or voluntary sales at less than
market value to existing council tenants.
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17. Where retained receipts exceed 30%, then your authority will agree to return the additional receipt (i.e. the receipt above 30%) to the Secretary of State with interest.
How does this work? 18. Each financial quarter your authority will report to the Department the
cumulative sum it has retained for replacement stock and the cumulative amount it has spent on replacement stock.
19. There will be no requirement to return receipts in the first three years of
the agreement, but in Quarter 1 of 2015/16 2 your authority will have to compare
the total amount spent on replacement stock from the start of the agreement to the end of that quarter, with
the total amount it has retained from Right to Buy receipts in Quarter 1 of 2012/13 (i.e. receipts it has had three years to spend).
Where the latter is 30% or less than the former then no further action is necessary.
20. In Quarter 2 of 2015/16 the comparison will be between the total spent on
replacement stock since the agreement began with the total it retained in Quarters 1 and 2 in 2012/13. And so forth for each subsequent quarter.
Grants to Housing Associations 21. Your authority may choose not to build itself, but instead to grant fund
another body. Where this is the case, we would encourage your authority not to pay grant until scheme completion. This will mean that your authority will be able to demonstrate clearly to your auditors your contribution (and the contribution of other public bodies) did not constitute more than 30% of total scheme costs.
22. You may decide to gift land to your partner housing association. Where
this is the case the value of the land cannot be counted towards the housing association’s 70% contribution. This is in line with the grant allocation process managed by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Returning receipts to the Secretary of State 23. Where in Quarter 1 of 2015/16 retained receipts in Quarter 1 of 2012/13
are more than 30% of total spend then the surplus (i.e. the amount above 30%) must be surrendered to the Secretary of State. Your authority’s retained amount for Quarter 1 of 2012/13 will be reduced by the amount surrendered and interest calculated back to that Quarter.
2 This example assumes the agreement began in Quarter 1 of 2012/13
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24. Any surplus identified in Quarter 2 of 2015/16 will result in Quarter 2 of 2012/13 being reduced and interest calculated back to that Quarter. And so on.
The early return of receipts 25. Your authority will be free to make payments to the Department whenever
it wishes. In so doing it will identify the Quarter it wishes to adjust and interest will be calculated back to that Quarter.
26. This will be useful where your authority may recognise that it will be
compelled to return receipts after two years and so wish to reduce the amount of interest it must pay by paying it back early.
27. Returned receipts will be given to the Homes and Communities Agency or
the Greater London Authority (as appropriate) for investment into Affordable Rented Housing. Further detail on how the allocation process will work will follow (which could be to local authorities that have entered into these agreements too).
Interest 28. We will charge interest at 4% above the base rate on a day to day basis
compounded with three-monthly rests: i.e. at the end of each three monthly period interest will start to accrue interest.
29. We have set a rate of interest deliberately, we hope, high enough to
encourage local authorities to invest more in replacement stock. The rate is specifically designed to discourage local authorities from retaining receipts until such time that they are required to surrender them. The means to avoid paying interest will be in your control and it should therefore be possible to avoid having to pay interest at all.
30. It is our intention that any interest returned to the Department will be used
to support the provision of new affordable rented homes. Reporting and Monitoring 31. Local authorities who enter into an agreement will be expected to
complete quarterly returns on Right to Buy sales, replacement starts and completions. This is consistent with the quarterly pooling return. In the longer term we may consider moving to a six monthly or annual reporting cycle, but in the initial years of the scheme quarterly monitoring is needed to assess how the scheme is progressing.
Terminating Agreements 32. The Secretary of State can terminate an agreement at any time, but would
expect to do so only in extreme circumstances (for example, where there was absolutely no evidence that a local authority was commencing
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activity). The effect of termination would mean that your authority could, from that point, no longer retain any receipts but would still have the three years from the start of the agreement to invest the receipts it had already retained (or have to return them).
33. Equally your authority can terminate an agreement either by voluntarily
returning all future receipts (and paying back what it had already retained) or by requesting the Secretary of State to terminate as set out above.
Entering into Agreements 34. We have invited all stock holding local authorities to enter into agreements
with us, with a requirement that they be returned signed to the Department before noon on Wednesday 27th June. This will enable us to send signed copies back to local authorities before July. The agreements are not valid until signed by both parties.
35. You will wish to note that local authorities that enter agreements after
Quarter 1 in 2012/13 will not be able to claim back receipts already surrendered. Similarly where a local authority decides in any quarter not to retain the full amount, but instead decides to return some or all of it, it cannot subsequently claim that money back.
36. This is because the receipts will already have been allocated to the Homes
and Communities Agency or Greater London Authority as appropriate for investment.
37. If you have any questions on this paper please e-mail us at the
Department for Communities and Local Government at [email protected].
May 2012 Department for Communities and Local Government
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EXECUTIVE
S U P P L E M E N T A R Y A G E N D A
SECTION A
3. Customer Access Strategy
4. Right To Buy: Reinvesting Receipts in New Affordable Rented Homes
Monday 2 July 2012 6:00pm Committee Rooms 2 & 3, City Hall
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