Hastings council facing huge financial hit from pandemic

At a virtual meeting on Monday (July 6), Hastings Borough Council’s cabinet discussed reports covering the impact of the pandemic on council’s operations.

According to those reports, the council expects to face around £4.9m of additional costs or lost income as a result of Covid-19, however this figure is not fixed and is subject to change.

In a best case scenario the final costs are estimated to come to £3.65m. In a worst-case scenario this could rise as high as £10.1m, council papers say.

Despite this, Hastings remains in a relatively good position, said cabinet member for finance Peter Chowney, as a result of its existing reserves.

He said: “We are in the fortunate position in Hastings of having a reasonable level of reserves. We kept the general reserves to its minimum position of £6m, we haven’t gone below that. 

“Of course reserves are there for major financial crises and unforeseen circumstances and you can’t get much more unforeseen and critical than what we are in at the moment.

“The reserve that we have will cover the estimated shortfall even if we get no more money. However we still need the money, partly because if we use that reserve we will have to build it up again. 

“We need more money basically. The government is going to have to bail out local authorities. If it doesn’t the consequences are inconceivable, not in Hastings but certainly everywhere else and eventually in Hastings if the crisis goes on.”   

To date the government has confirmed additional grant funding of £985,000 for Hastings Borough Council.

The authority is also expected to receive a share of the new £4.3bn funding package for councils in England.

But cabinet members warned further funding would be needed to weather the crisis.

Council leader Kim Forward said: “We will continue to lobby at the highest level to ensure that Hastings council gets the funding it needs, so we can continue to support residents.”

Another issue brought on by the pandemic is the council’s spending on housing.  

During the lockdown, the council has found housing for more people than under normal circumstances, mostly due to its increased discretionary placements i.e. people the council does not have a legal duty to house.

The number of homeless households from Hastings living in emergency accommodation has increased from 205 at the start of lockdown to 240 at the end of June. Of these, 51 are discretionary placements for former rough sleepers.

However, the council has not seen the sort of circumstances which make up the bulk of its normal case load, officers said.

In normal circumstances, many of the council’s homelessness cases are people who have become homeless following the end of private rental agreements.  

But with restrictions on when landlords can evict tenants, such cases have fallen off during lockdown.

While positive in the short term, officers said, there was a concern there could be an influx of such cases once restrictions on evictions are lifted in August.

Cllr Andy Batsford, cabinet member for housing and homelessness, said: “I think we will see a suddenly very big spike in those evictions. 

“[Evictions] that would have happened if Covid hadn’t come along, but also because of the pressures that found themselves in financially. 

“With furloughing coming to an end, and shops and businesses now working out what staff they do need in these new times.

“It is a big worry for me that we are going to see a big influx in average families really struggling and calling on the council’s services.

“If anybody is listening from national government I would plead with them to rethink relaxing the eviction notices and actually keep it on pause, because this is going to be where it really impacts on people.”

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