Agenda and decisions

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

I, Councillor Kelly, Statutory Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property & Regeneration, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution, do hereby approve:

An extension of the exception granted to the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy (PSHAP), as outlined in the report, to allow the service to continue to provide financial assistance to all qualifying applicants within the limits of the capital budget allocation until 31^st December 2022.

The Reasons are:

An extension to the exception will allow time for a full appraisal of the intermediate solution and to make recommendations to Lead Member for a long-term service provision solution. While much progress has been made in the last 18 months, Covid-19 has had an impact on the ability of the service to progress at pace, as restrictions are eased it has now become possible to undertake the necessary steps to ascertain the best and most effective delivery solution.

Options considered and rejected were:

To procure a new supplier of FCA regulated loan products without pause for review and consideration of current market demands.

To stop providing financial assistance to older and vulnerable residents for home improvement works.

Assessment of Risk:Low.

The source of funding is: Place, Home Improvement Capital budget.

Legal Advice obtained: Commercial Team Kathryn Saldanha

The contractual arrangements between the Council and SUK have been longstanding and consumer credit legislation has evolved over this period so that most loans to individuals are now “regulated activities” that can only be carried out by FCA authorised bodies.  There are a limited number of Local Authority “exemptions” which enable Local Authorities to enter into certain forms of financial arrangements with individuals without requiring FCA Authorisation. Given the complexity of current consumer credit legislation and the FCA regulatory regime, the Council has sought specialist legal advice from DWF regarding its “historic” PSHAP Loans which have been entered into by SUK on behalf of the Council and new applications for PSHAP Loans which the Council has received since SUK exercised its right to terminate its contract with the Council on 19^th June 2020.  With regard to new applications for PSHAP Loans, the Council proposes that a change is made to the current PSHAP so that, in place of the “regulated Loans” that SUK offers, the Council will enter into repayable Grants in a form that complies with the relevant “LA” exemptions.

Financial Advice obtained: Natalie Birchall, ext. 2316

The proposal to approve an exception to policy and to provide direct financial assistance in the form of a grant with conditions, will be funded from the approved Place, Home Improvement Agency capital programme.

The conditions would be that such assistance would be subject to a grant condition period of up to 20 years, during which time the grant would be required to be paid back to the council if the property had a change in ownership.

Procurement Advice obtained: Emma Heyes, Category  ...  view the full decision text for item 3a