Decision details

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Caroline Jackson)

Cabinet received a report from the Chief Officer – Housing and Property to update Cabinet members on the recent audit report and recommendation made by Homes England.

Following a successful bid under the  Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme the council acquired Jubilee Court with the scheme to provide apartments designated for rough sleepers completed in March 2023. To receive the funding the council had entered into contract with Homes England agreeing to the full terms of its Capital Funding Guide. As part of the administration and monitoring arrangements, Homes England routinely undertook compliance audits to assess adherence with the Capital Funding Guide and Lancaster City Council was randomly selected for audit in 2023/24.

Homes England used a traffic light scoring system with Green indicating that the provider met the requirements.  The awarded grade for Jubilee Court was Green and further details were provided in the report and confidential appendix.

As the report was for noting no options were provided.

Resolved unanimously:

That the report be noted.

Reasons for making the decision:

The adopted Homes Strategy 20-25 sets out the council’s housing and regeneration priorities over the Strategy period. Section 13 sets out the council’s ambitions priorities and actions to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping including a clear intention to bid for future revenue and capital funding to bring forward longer term move on accommodation for rough sleepers.

It is a requirement of Homes England to formally report the audit findings to Cabinet and within three months of receipt of the audit report, that the Provider inputs the date of the Cabinet meeting confirming acknowledgement of the audit report findings and recommendations.