• Home
  • About
  • Newsletters
  • Conference
  • TMS Links
  • Calendar
  • Log In
  • Register

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • London CIV launches sustainable equity fund

    April 19, 2018

  • Council funding boost for stadium for Cornwall

    April 18, 2018

  • Herts creates development joint venture

    April 18, 2018

  • Half of councils ‘draw down on reserves’

    April 18, 2018

  • Northants completes HQ sale

    April 18, 2018

  • Ashford adopts commercial property strategy

    April 18, 2018

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • Agent 151
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Richard Harbord
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
    • Stephen Sheen
  • Interviews
  • Jobs

Hillingdon scraps ALMO, councils insource from Capita, £180bn liabilities, bedroom tax cash unclaimed

0
  • by Editor
  • in 151 News
  • — 26 Jun, 2014

Hillingdon votes to scrap ALMO
London Borough of Hillingdon has voted to wind-up its arms length management organisation (ALMO) and bring housing services back in-house. The council expects the plans to cost £300,000 but will save the same amount every year in future. A report to councillors said the case for retaining the ALMO had been weakened due to extra freedoms offered to local authorities, in particular the ability for councils to retain rental income from homes they buy, build or bring back into use to invest in new housing.

Councils insource services from Capita
Two councils have renegotiated their outsourcing deals with supplier Capita to bring some services back in-house. Birmingham City Council says it will save £150m over seven years by running its call centre directly – this was previously run by Service Birmingham, a joint venture run by the council with Capita. In addition, Swindon Borough Council says it will save around £2m per year by providing customer services, finance administration and business support itself. Capita will continue to provide ICT services for both councils.

Long-term council liabilities “total £180bn”
Local authorities in the UK owed more than £180bn in long-term liabilities at the end of the last financial year, an increase of 8.7% on 2012/13, according to new research. Campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance said that long-term borrowing made up almost £72bn of the liabilities. According to the figures, 38 councils had long-term liabilities equivalent to more than £4,000 per resident, while 73 had no long-term borrowing.

Pension funds commit to growth investment
Six local authority pension funds have announced a joint commitment of £152m to invest in local growth projects. The Greater Manchester Pension Fund will be the largest investor, committing £50m to the venture, with the remainder funded by West Yorkshire Pension Fund, South Yorkshire Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund, West Midlands Pension Fund and East Riding Pension Fund. The cash will be managed by financial fund manager Bridges Ventures, SME lender Boost & Co, and Midven, a Birmingham-based venture capital manager.

NAO voices transparency worries
The increase in non ring-fenced funding has made it more difficult to assess the impact of spending by local authorities, according to the National Audit Office. The watchdog said that in 2013/14 eight central government departments gave a total of £36.1bn to councils to deliver core functions. Of this £25bn was  not ring-fenced, with a further £7.8bn also not ring-fenced but targeted on specific activities. Auditor general Amyas Morse said: “The DCLG’s arrangements to assure Parliament over funding are in transition, but the department should do more to understand whether the system for funding local government is effective in delivering value for money.”

Councils leave bedroom tax cash unclaimed
Councils failed to claim more than £20m allocated by central government to cushion the effect of government welfare changes in 2013/14, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. Figures released by the department showed that 63% of local authorities paid out less than their total Discretionary Housing Payment allocation to tenants. This meant £13.3m remained from the initial DHP fund, with a further £7.1m left over from a top-up fund. The cash was made available to authorities to top-up housing benefit to people affected by the “bedroom tax” and benefit caps.

BBA calls for challenger bank action
The British Banking Association says that challenger banks would benefit from more investments from local authorities. In a report published this week, it said that large banks have an advantage due to their size, underlined by the fact that large banks are the recipients of government deposits (local and central) which “tends to give them larger deposits and lower cost funding”. The BBA called for reform of funding so that challengers have equal access to government deposits. However, experts pointed out that there are currently no restrictions on councils lending to such banks.

Manchester in regeneration JV
Manchester City Council has announced plans to form a joint venture with investment company Abu Dhabi United Group to regenerate areas in the east of the city. The new Manchester Life Development Company will aim to build 6,000 homes over ten years in the Ancoats and New Islington districts. The council says it hopes to raise up to £1bn to finance the redevelopment, which will mostly contain homes for private rent.

Osborne “prepared for further devolution”
Chancellor George Osborne has signalled his desire to devolve further powers and budgets to cities adopting mayoral governance. In a speech delivered in Manchester, Osborne said that he wanted to start a conversation about giving cities similar powers to those enjoyed by the mayor of London. “A true powerhouse requires true power,” Osborne said.

Plymouth creates school meals vehicle
Plymouth City Council has voted to create a new joint venture to provide hot school lunches for schoolchildren. The new cooperative will be owned 49% by a group of 70 schools and 51% by the council. Staff will be transferred from the council’s education catering service to the co-op.

Yorkshire councils to share services
East Riding of Yorkshire Council has agreed plans to begin service sharing arrangements with neighbouring Scarborough Borough Council. The council’s cabinet voted this week to progress plans to share payroll services, training, human resources and benefits from 2015. The meeting also agreed that officers should pursue discussions on sharing ICT services and procurement along with tourism.

Share

You may also like...

  • Surrey roads, LAMS relaunch, Building societies, Barnet contract, Scottish LGPS Surrey roads, LAMS relaunch, Building societies, Barnet contract, Scottish LGPS 15 Nov, 2013
  • Liverpool hails recovery of £3.5m debt as ‘right course of action’ for a commercial council 3 Aug, 2017
  • Pickles accused of playing to the gallery in ‘simplistic debate’ over reserves Pickles accused of playing to the gallery in ‘simplistic debate’ over reserves 5 Sep, 2013
  • Failure prospects, South West pool, value for money warnings, divestment rules slammed, building societies stable 10 Dec, 2015

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register for the Room 151 Weekly Email Digest

  • Latest tweets

    Room 151 5 hours ago

    Herts agrees JV with Morgan Sindall to develop 500 homes: Hertfordshire County Council has signed a deal to create a 50/50 development joint venture with construction firm Morgan Sindall. The council will use its standalone company, Herts Living Ltd… dlvr.it/QQ5ZZg

    Room 151 10 hours ago

    #localgov @JRolfe67 #housing #regeneration twitter.com/SHJFitzgerald/…

    Room 151 10 hours ago

    London CIV launches sustainable equity fund room151.co.uk/brief/#london-… #localgov #lgps

    Room 151 10 hours ago

    #localgov twitter.com/Rebecca_DTZi/s…

    Room 151 12 hours ago

    Newham in danger of missing deadline to publish accounts: The London Borough of Newham is in danger of missing its deadline to publish audited financial statements due to a lack of capacity in its finance team, according to auditors.[...] dlvr.it/QQ3RFn pic.twitter.com/S35NTpUMSJ

    Room 151 14 hours ago

    Enfield funds new housing association with right to buy receipts: The London Borough of Enfield has agreed to fund the creation of a new housing association in which it will take a minority stake, in order to spend £50m of[...] dlvr.it/QQ2hqH pic.twitter.com/Q8Dc5eQuyY

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Council funding boost for stadium for Cornwall room151.co.uk/brief/#council… #infrastructure #development

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Herts creates #development joint venture room151.co.uk/brief/#herts-c… #housing #property

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Half of councils ‘draw down on reserves’ room151.co.uk/brief/#half-of… #localgov #lgps #treasury

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Northants completes HQ sale room151.co.uk/brief/#northam… #localgov

    Room 151 1 day ago

    Ashford adopts commercial #property strategy room151.co.uk/brief/#ashford… #localgov #lgps #housing #treasury

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Government's terms for #businessrates review published room151.co.uk/brief/#terms-f… #localgov #mhclg

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Good chat with LPP's Chris Rule about #LGPS investment in #housing and #regeneration @LPFA1 room151.co.uk/interviews/lgp… #localgov

    Room 151 2 days ago

    #localgov #lgps twitter.com/kshackleton1/s…

    Room 151 2 days ago

    LGPS Pools Roundup: Access appoints Link, CIO for Border to Coast, Central launches funds, new chair for Northern Pool: ACCESS Link wins pooling contract ACCESS  has appointed Link Fund Solutions Ltd to establish and operate its authorised contractual… dlvr.it/QPq8BJ

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Five LGPS funds invest £100m in the private rented sector: Five pension funds agreed last year to commit £100m to a fund aimed at building and managing housing in the private rented sector. Room151 reveals how it came about. The[...] dlvr.it/QPq00D pic.twitter.com/MHjD2vWny2

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Changing the Guard: New Fed leadership and what’s ahead for the world’s most important central bank: Sponsored Article: A change in leadership often sparks intrigue from investors—particularly when the leader is the chair of the world’s most important… dlvr.it/QPpzwx pic.twitter.com/9JWmWJXLzq

    Room 151 2 days ago

    LGPS Q&A: Chris Rule of Local Pensions Partnership on housing and regeneration: Interest in housing and regeneration among institutional investors is growing. In an exclusive interview for Room151, Chris Rule discusses the Local Pensions Partnership’s… dlvr.it/QPpqBS pic.twitter.com/CwuKp8m2ur

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Jeff Houston: LGPS and investment cost transparency: The LGPS Advisory Board has been the first to sign up to a new disclosure template for investment costs. Jeff Houston explains what’s happening and why. It seems a very[...] dlvr.it/QPpq0Y pic.twitter.com/gxW8PinJpX

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Karen Shackleton: The cost conundrum of active managers: LGPS is in a better position to assess the cost of active managers, even if it remains difficult. It is common sense to take costs into account when judging the[...] dlvr.it/QPpfZ1 pic.twitter.com/gfVirgWcy2

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Blogs
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • LGPSi
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Recent Posts
    • Resources
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Treasury
  • Archives

    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Q&A with Cheshire East’s Peter Bates
  • Next story Betts slams ministers over council spending calculations

© Copyright 2018 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this website.OK