The Borough Residents' Forum was scheduled to meet on 29 October 2025, to discuss the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan, and to note the minutes of the previous meeting. The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plan update was due to be considered by the cabinet at its next meeting on 3 November.

Here are the topics that were scheduled to be discussed.

HRA Business Plan Update

The forum was scheduled to consider the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan Update, ahead of its consideration by the cabinet. The HRA is a ringfenced account, separate from the council's general fund, containing income and expenditure relating to the management and maintenance of Wandsworth's housing stock. The HRA business plan informs strategic housing management decisions and is a critical tool to secure and demonstrate the continued financial viability of the council's management of its housing stock.

The report detailed updates to the business plan reflecting movements since the framework was last approved in February 2025. This included the 2024/25 financial results, the annual resources housing policy review and associated budget variations reported in July 2025, the current year estimates for expenditure, income and reserve balances and updated profiles for capital scheme cash flows and associated capital financing.

The cabinet was scheduled to consider and approve positive HRA capital budget variations totalling £6.8m, and the revised HRA capital programme cash flows.

The capital bids included:

• Building Safety Act - A £1.6m contingency for new requirements for capital projects on higher risk buildings arising from the Building Safety Act.
• Fairfield Court Window Renewal - An additional £0.4m due to the tendered costs being higher than the original pre-tender estimate.
• Electrical Rewires and Boiler Upgrades - A capital addition of £2.8m for boiler upgrades and £1.5m for electrical rewires.
• Fire Safety Works - A £0.5m capital budget addition to cover the cost of works to install a compartmentation system in the roof space of five blocks on the Wynter Street Estate, following a fire at Fox House.

The total approved HRA capital programme currently stands at £514.620m.

The business plan currently includes provision for the annual capital bids for repairs and improvements within the council's housing stock based on the existing stock condition survey. A full new stock condition survey is underway with 100% of individual tenanted properties to be inspected over a five-year period. The outcome of these surveys will form the basis of more accurate capital investment requirements in future updates of the business plan once available.

The council has a policy of becoming carbon neutral and net zero by 2030. It has been previously estimated that the cost of significantly improving the energy efficiency of the housing stock could be in the region of £225m. The council has recently responded to the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) Government consultation which proposed a target of all homes reaching EPC C or equivalent by 2030. Early indicative modelling estimates that this could cost approximately £33m.

Following the exit of the private sector partner from the Winstanley/York Road Joint Venture, and with the recent successful ballot on the Alton Estate, the position on both regeneration schemes continue to be worked on to inform the longer-term financial modelling within the business plan. The Homes for Wandsworth development programme is now going to deliver 100% social rent properties and is on track to deliver 1,000 new council rent homes across the borough.

The current business plan includes the latest forecasts for revenue income and expenditure. The update reports on the key assumptions made within the business plan modelling and highlights relevant associated risks. These primarily include general inflation forecasts, ongoing pressures relating to day-to-day repairs, most notably void repair works, fire and building safety costs and disrepair settlements, future rent increases and the revenue impact of borrowing to finance the ambitious capital investment and growth plans.

New regulatory requirements around building and fire safety, and damp and mould (Awaab's Law) are having a considerable impact on the expenditure levels in the HRA. The cost of bringing void properties back into use is also one of the biggest pressures to repairs budgets, both across capital and revenue.

Future rent increases for social rent properties are assumed to be in line with the maximum increase permissible each year although actual increases are, in some cases, limited where properties historically have rents already set above the Formula Rent Cap for individual properties. The council welcomes the financial certainty that the new statutory ten-year rent regime gives.

The government is currently consulting on the possible reintroduction of 'rent convergence', a mechanism for increasing rents at a faster rate (up to an additional £2 per week) for those tenants on historically low rents below the core formula rent which forms the basis for the Rent Standard.

The government's full roll out of Universal Credit is continuing with a target completion date of March 2026. This could potentially have a significant impact on the level of bad debt provision made against rents due that needs to be made within the HRA as, unlike Housing Benefit, Universal Credit is paid directly to claimants rather than to the council.

As strategic borrowing is required for long-term investment in the HRA, largely in support of ambitious estate regeneration and the delivery of new homes, the risk around interest rate movement is more closely linked to the cost of future borrowing rather than the income generated through investing cash balances.

The HRA had opening balances totalling £153m at the beginning of 2025/26. The interest earned on these balances is reinvested into the HRA to support the long term financial viability of the business plan.

Existing controls within the approved HRA framework were set on the basis that projected HRA reserves should not be forecast to fall by more than £40m by the end of 2027/28 from the previously estimated level of £210.788m.

Minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting held on 11 June 2025 were scheduled to be confirmed as an accurate record. During that meeting, the forum:

• Noted that food waste bags were exceedingly thin and residents had stated that they have had to double up the bags on occasion. Councillor Aydin Dikerdem, Cabinet Member for Housing stated that the bags were biodegradable which would dissolve with the rest of the food waste and advised that bags should be doubled up.
• Discussed issues with Homelife and Brightside magazines not being received.
• Discussed whether it was possible for residents to meet more often with contractors.
• Discussed issues in relation to Thames Water where there were ongoing issues for residents who were being charged more than they should be.
• Received a report regarding an update on the inspection report and regulatory judgement by the Regulator of Social Housing.
• Received a report regarding the council's response to damp and mould.
• Discussed issues with the lifts at Ethelburga Tower.