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Cabinet
Wednesday, 2nd September 2026 at 5:00pm

 

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Slide selection

and welcome to the meeting of the Cabinet.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:06
This meeting will be webcast live to the internet.
For those who do not wish to be recorded or filmed,
you will need to leave the chamber.
For members, officers, and others speaking at the meeting,
it is important that the microphones are used
so viewers on the webcast and others in the room
may hear you.
Would anyone with a mobile phone please switch it
silent mode as they can be distracting. I would like to remind members that although
we all have strong opinions of the matters under consideration, it is important to treat
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:00:45
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:45
members, officers and public speakers with respect. So welcome everyone to the meeting

1 Apologies for Absence

of the cabinet and if we could start with apologies for absence.
Ms Jemma West - 0:00:54
We have received apologies from Councillors Butcher and Shoebe.

2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:59
Very good. Thank you very much for that. Moving on to the minutes, does anyone have any concerns
or amendments to make? Oh, sorry. Sorry. Fortunately, we have our Chief Executive with us. So declarations
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:01:26
of interest. Councillor Fuller, sorry. Thank you, Chair. I'd like to declare an interest on item 9 because should
solar voltaic panels end up on my roof I'd save money. So I'll leave it. Yeah, I'll get an early night as they say.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:01:37
Thank you very much, Councillor Fuller. Any other declarations of interest? No? Jolly good.
Thank you, thank you for that.

3 Minutes

So at last we can move to, I have three minutes.
Does anyone have any concerns or amendments
to make to the minutes?
Happy to move them later.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:01:58
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:01:59
Councillor Prater has moved the minutes
to accept the minutes.
I'm very happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much.
I'll sign those when I can.

4 Investigations and Fraud Overview 2025/26

Moving on to item four, investigations and fraud overview, 25 -26, that's pages 15 -26
in your pack.
And I understand Councillor Prater is going to lead us through this.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:02:25
I'm going to give it a brief introduction, leader.
This is an annual report, so we will have seen these, you will see them at least three
times in the last three years.
and this is the animal part of the fraud team.
When I say fraud team, I think small and perfectly formed
would be a reasoned way of saying the fraud team,
I believe, is one full -time person.
So the work that you see here is the work of one person.
Not every council has a fraud team anymore.
It was something that some people tried to get out of,
but you can see the impact which is being had
by the fraud work which has been done in the last year here.
Broadly between sections two and section three,
you can see that over a million pounds worth
has been saved of money that isn't going to people
who are misclaiming or fraudulently claiming
either benefit support or housing support at this stage.
And that money therefore can be directed to those people
who are genuinely claiming what they are entitled to
under those systems and we can give the best possible support
to those people who should be getting it
and are claiming entirely out reasonably.
That's why I think the fraud work
that we are doing is so important.
It means that we are directing those resources
to the people who most deserve it and most need it.
And I'm delighted that the report's here.
And Councillor Speakman, bring it on.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:03:56
Happy to move the report
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:03:58
and I await questions with excitement.
Right.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:04:01
I'm very happy to second it.
I think that fraud investigation is very, very important
in terms of what our constituents feel we should be doing.
However much we do is another question,
but if we weren't doing any, everyone would be very upset.
So I think it's a very, very important function that we do.
I think it's a very good report
and I'm very happy to second it.
So happy to open for questions.
Councillor Speakman.
Yes, well enough.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:04:36
First of all, yes, excellent report.
Thank you very much, very informative.
Just a curiosity really, which is page 16
on the savings identified on council tax discounts
and council tax reduction.
It's just noted that the savings projected
for the future year for council tax discounts
is about half the current year,
whereas the council tax reduction for savings
for the future year is actually double the current savings.
So it just seems an interesting kind of set of figures.
Councillor Prater.
I'm delighted to be able to answer this question.
And if you don't like the answer to this question,
then I'm going to unleash Andrew on you.
May there be mercy on your soul.
As you say in section two, it says cancelled.
So what it says is current and previous year,
282 ,000 and future year, 145 ,584.
Where it says current and previous year,
actually I think I should say current and previous years,
there is an S missing.
So that 282 ,000, more than half of that,
significant is previous years,
previous to this financial year.
In this current financial year,
it is somewhere under the future year total.
And that's because when you find fraud in year,
you don't therefore get all of the money back in year,
and therefore next year is more likely to be,
is a bigger saving than the current year.
But the previous years, of course,
you could have two or three or four
that you are claiming at that stage.
So in terms of council tax discount and exemptions,
the current year is actually lower than the future year.
But when you add the previous years into it as well,
that's what makes the difference.
That same pattern then shows a little more clearly
in the council tax reduction figures.
You can see the current year is set at 88 ,636,
but future year full value of those savings
that have been found is 170 ,000 pounds plus.
So the same pattern is there.
It's just the way that the savings are grouped
current and previous year in that particular instance
kind of distracts that.
I was looking for a breakdown of those,
but this is following the reporting model
which is used across the Kent Investigations Network,
which we report to quarterly,
and the figures are in the format which they take for that,
and therefore doing the figures once
and then doing them in a different way
is a poor way of reporting from that point of view.
It takes longer, so it's reported that way.
I hope that answers the question.
I probably think it very much.
Councillor Scofford.
Yeah, just a point of clarification.
I haven't quite added up the figures.
But the figure of a million or thereabouts,
is that over a number of years then rather than, yeah,
that's what I hadn't quite understood.
So it's maybe two or three years, a bit difficult to tell.
but a very substantial sum and as you say,
Councillor Martin, very important
that we are seen to be fair.
Sorry, Councillor Spakeman.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:07:54
So just to add character to that,
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:07:56
yes, the saving of that is over more than one year,
but it is due to the work of only the last year.
So it is the fraud work done in the last year
which had an impact if you're claiming money back,
which had been misclaimed in previous years,
in this financial year,
and then the projection of what it saved the next year.
So although the saving is over more than three years,
it is only the work of this year that is being counted.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:08:23
Any other contributions, questions?
Well, we have a proposal, we have a seconder.
It really just, before we vote,
just leaves me to say a very grateful thanks
city officers, not only for preparing the report,
but actually doing all the work that a report reports on.
So thank you very much, Andrew, and your team
for the excellent job that you do.
So we, Councillor Prater proposed, I was very happy
to second, all those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Now we are back with item five.

5 Welfare report and Overview 2025/26

Councillor Prater will lead us through the Welfare Report and Overview, 25 -26, pages
27 -44 in your pack.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:09:14
Thank you again, Nida. Again, this is a annual report, so you will be familiar with the format
of this, and it is of a much larger section of the work done by the multinational award -winning
welfare and benefits team, and also,
multiply nominated for this year's national awards as well.
We await to see the results of that with interest,
but it's always, I think, important to note
that not only do we think that they're one of the best
teams in the country, so does the country.
So that's great to see.
The report leads you through how we've been supporting,
or how the team have been supporting people
through the course of the year,
looking at the various different options,
which are array of options,
which government have given at different times
and then withdrawn and then added to
and then changed the name of
and then changed the criteria of
and then moved around a bit
and then rebadged over the last few years
and the different amounts of support
which are available there.
There will be some changes as to how this will look
or how the numbers will work for future years
because having changed our council tax reduction scheme,
we are now obviously giving a more generous reduction,
up to 100 % reduction for those who are most in need
of that support and therefore you will see
that there will be more reduction given to people
and less payments given to support the bit
that they weren't previously getting.
So you'll see some skewing, but this only runs
to the end of last financial year,
and therefore that doesn't kick in after this report.
But I think what it does show is a lot of,
you know, how much work is actually going
into supporting those people who contact us
and say that they are having problems,
either with their council tax,
or indeed with their financial circumstances in general.
I wish we could do more.
I wish that councils have more scope to do more.
I wish we had more budget to do more.
But I think that what this demonstrates is that within the scope of what we have,
and that which is delegated to us from government and via KCC,
I think we're doing the best job that we can in terms of making sure that we get that money to people.
Andrew and I discuss monthly, in what can only be described as significant detail, how
those schemes are going and how the money is getting out of the door month by month
and making sure that we are getting every penny out of that we possibly can out of earmarked
budgets into the hands of people who actually need that support. The report details it and
it's done through, as I said, our welfare team,
who are also in contact regularly with welfare teams,
et cetera, and things like that, across the county,
so we get input from those as well.
As ever, I said, on this one, I will absolutely give
any difficult questions across to Andrew,
because he loves them, but as I said,
I think it's a, the most recent update
of the annual report, but I think it reflects very well
on this council and absolutely excellently
on the welfare team with the support that we get out there.
And I'm very happy to move the report.
Thank you very much, Councillor Prater.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:12:49
I'm very happy to second and echo your comments.
And the report just really
reinforces the confidence that I have that we are doing.
There's always there is always an argument that we can do more.
but given the balance of where we are,
I'm delighted with the amount of help that we can give.
So, very happy now to open it for questions, comments.
Councillor Speakeman.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:13:20
Yeah, I'm sort of puzzled really about this
because, I mean, we're doing clearly amazing work
and congratulations to all concerned welfare team.
I think it's absolutely fantastic.
What puzzles me is, I suppose,
and I'm going back into kind of
sort of my own professional experience,
is that I mean a lot of this work
I think we'd agree is to do with,
usually has a kind of financial element to it, is debt.
And this is, in my experience,
is often linked to vulnerable families,
families at risk, and these would be families
well known in my previous experience to social services.
Yeah, I don't get a sense that social services figures
in this report very much.
I'm just, maybe, I'm not suggesting it's an oversight,
but I just wonder, I mean, traditionally social services,
children's services, children and families,
were the go -to statutory welfare service.
It seems to me that we're doing an awful lot of that work.
I mean, I think I've probably made this point before.
I just wondered, am I getting a wrong impression here,
or is this kind of like an increasing solidification,
for whatever better term, of services?
Sounds like one for you, Andrew.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:14:28
Happy to take that, yeah.
Mr Andrew Hatcher - 0:14:29
We do obviously liaise with the social services
as we need to with the permission of the residents
in case -by -case spaces as most of these cases are.
It's not just a generic thing.
A lot of the work we do isn't just here's your money,
off you go, thank you, goodbye.
There's a lot of work around that
and that would involve other organisations.
Not always social services, there's a lot of other
organisations as we all know who work locally
and around the county.
But yeah, getting data out of social services
is very different so we can actually target
our resources at them because they won't share that with us.
That's one of the advantages I think that local government
realisation could potentially bring to us
because it's our data.
So I think there is more we could potentially do
but that's not within our remit currently.
But yeah, we obviously work with social services.
They refer into us quite a lot as well
because obviously they know that we have
a lot of schemes open to support people
they're working with so it's a two -way process.
We don't work alongside them necessarily in the same way
because we have different remits on what we can do.
But we get people referred to us from social service
that can help them in these ways,
around some of these schemes,
because they can't help, they can't offer what we offer.
Likewise, we can't do what they do.
So we don't try and replicate.
Much like with the crisis resilience fund for this year,
which replaces the house support fund,
we're not duplicating what KCC are doing,
because one, it's confusing for people,
they won't know where to go,
and also why would we?
We would do something different,
to offer other support which isn't otherwise available.
So that's the route we take.
So it is a joint approach to a sense.
I think local government relation will build on that
a lot more as well.
I'm gonna say I think this is an opportunity
for local government reorganisation bringing together,
sorry, bringing together, but also health as well,
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:16:13
mental health services, learning disabilities,
all these, because these aren't,
these are often multifaceted problems.
and the more likely you try an integrated approach,
the better, so hopefully that will be an opportunity
to look at the organisation.
But thank you for that, anyway, good.
Councillor Blakemore.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:16:34
Thank you, Chair.
Yeah, I wanted to add my appreciation
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:16:38
to the work of the team.
This is really important work,
and I'm also struck by the fact that it's not limited
to people who come to us asking for help
with the proactive work that goes into this one
in actually reaching out to over 300 households
to offer help to them and to point them
in the right direction.
Neither is it the full extent of what the council does
to support people.
I was reading the annual report of Citizens Advice this week
which we provide a substantial amount of money to
and they do fantastic work here to help many,
I'm sure many of the same people that we are helping as well
to deal with debt and to avoid debt.
I'm also struck by the fact that I seem to remember
us having a very similar conversation last year
that we have a number of government -funded schemes here,
which are rebadged, it seems, regularly,
under different names.
But what doesn't change, the name changes,
but the amount of money doesn't change from year to year,
despite the fact that demand increases.
And that's really deplorable, because we cannot pretend
that there isn't increased demand for this support.
We know that there is.
So why is it that we're having to deal
with a smaller pot of money each year
and having to find that funding from elsewhere
within our budgets that should be coming out of these funds?
I had one question which was around financial support payments and the number of applications
we received versus the number of households that were able to help.
So if I've understood this right, 2526, we provided £266 ,502 to 439 households, having
received 818 applications.
I was just interested, we held 407 households last year with about 40 ,000 less.
but has the number of applications increased in proportion
is my question really,
because I couldn't see the figure
for how many applications we received,
so if you understand what I'm getting at,
I'm just trying to understand
whether the number of applications is increasing
out of proportion,
or are we seeing a kind of a trend that we would expect?
That's a bit garbled,
but do you understand where I'm getting from?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:18:41
Andrew, are you able to offer some light on?
I am.
Mr Andrew Hatcher - 0:18:46
I don't think it's that number for me, but yeah, the numbers for the previous year were very similar.
They were in the 800s for the previous year for applications.
So the trend for the past two years has been very similar, as you correctly stated.
And as Councillor Prater alluded to at the start, this year we've seen a significant decrease, which we expected.
We hoped for because otherwise something's gone terribly wrong with our planning.
But because of our Councillor's reduction scheme is offering that support up front now,
we've seen a massive decrease on the applications for this year.
So for example, this year, to date we've received 92,
which is over 200 less than this point last year.
And you get a lot of the applications often up front,
because when people first get their bills,
so it's in a significant decrease in that,
and obviously the spend reflects that the spend this year
is only at 13 ,000 pounds as we stand at the moment,
compared to obviously that significant figure in the report.
So that saving has, obviously that does obviously offset
with the extra cost of the counter -introduction scheme,
but it's a lot simpler.
So a lot less hassle for the resident
and ultimately for us as well,
because it's less admin.
But yes, the trend was similar
for the past previous couple of years,
but obviously now it's a big decrease
because of changes in the local scene.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:20:00
Are you happy with that, Councillor?
Yeah, Councillor Price here.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:20:05
I just want to follow up on the multi -agency approach
that you were discussing there,
because I think that's really important,
and Andrew Leeds, as part of the work that he does,
a series of briefings during the course of,
I can't actually remember whether I was
in the last one or not, but there are regular briefings
which are held for all of those agencies
that might refer in or might have clients
that need support that we offer,
to offer them a generally about quarterly update
on what support we've got,
what the application mechanisms are,
what the criteria are, how that might apply
to their client base, how they can help people
apply for the money which is there.
So we are signposting, so we have people from CAB
and from Rainbow Centre and things like that,
come to make sure that we're making sure
that we are briefing them and keeping them up to date
with what the most recently badged, re -changed name
of the same amount of money scheme is,
and how they can make sure their clients
make the most benefit of that,
and that it benefits the maximum number of people
with the maximum amount of support.
And I think that's really important.
It's been recognised by the team over many years
and is part of the reason why they are
multinational award -winning,
is leveraging that, all of those external organisations
as well and making sure that everybody knows
as much as they can about what support is there
because the more visibility and transparency
you give to that, the better the support,
better people can claim for it
and the better that we can use that money
and get it out there.
So that's, it's again, another of the things that Andrew does with his spare time.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:21:43
We won't go there.
And thank you very much.
Any other questions or contributions?
Councillor Fraser proposed.
I was very happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Thank you, team. Brilliant stuff.

6 2025-26 Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report

Moving on to item six.
25 -26 annual complaints and service improvement report, pages 45 to 114 in your pack.
And I think Councillor Fuller is going to lead us through this.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:22:22
This report presents the Council's 2025 to 2026 annual complaints and service improvement
report, including the annual self -assessments against the housing ombudsman and local government
and social care Ombudsman complaint handling codes, together with the governing body response.
Cabinet is asked to receive and note the documents before publication
and submission to the Housing Ombudsman on 30 September 2026.
Complaints volumes have increased during 2025 -26, with stage 1 complaints rising from 136 to 195,
Stage 2 complaints from 32 to 60 and Ombudsman enquiries and investigations from 7 to 25.
The highest Stage 1 volumes were in housing, landlord services, housing strategy and options,
parking, benefits and planning.
While overall complaints numbers rose, the proportion of Stage 1 complaints upheld or
partially upheld fell from 40 % to 27%.
At stage two, it increased from 16 % to 25%.
And the council identified 62 lessons,
mainly around communication, responsiveness,
case management, administrative accuracy,
customer care, and contractor performance.
The housing complaints benchmarking position
remains positive.
The council receives fewer housing complaints
per thousand homes than sector and peer averages,
and all stage one and stage two housing complaint responses
were completed within the required timescales.
Tenant satisfaction with complaint handling was 36 .4%,
which is broadly in line with national and peer comparisons.
So overall, the report demonstrates that complaints
are being used to support learning, service improvement,
transparency, scrutiny, and compliance
with the relevant complaint handling requirements.
I welcome any questions.
Do you move the report, Councillor
Good point.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:24:24
I removed the report.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:24:27
Thank you very much.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:24:31
I'm very, very happy to second the report.
There's a bewildering amount of detail in it.
The bellwether that I use is the number of emails that I get in terms of complaints.
So I'm very, very grateful for the level of detail.
I'm very grateful for the level of analysis that goes on with regard to the complaints.
So I'm very, very happy to second and open up for discussion or questions.
Councillor Spakeman.
Sorry, yes, again.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:25:01
Final question, I promise.
Just a quickie, actually.
It's just noting that quite a significant increase, isn't there, in stage one and stage
two complaints.
So stage one's gone up by 43 % and stage two's up by 88%,
which is quite a remarkable increase.
Just wondered if you could throw some white on that.
Are you able to explain that?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:25:23
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to Gavin
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:25:27
for preparing the answer to this question, as it were.
So yes, there was a significant increase
in stage one complaints,
specifically that affected parking,
which went up from five to 29,
benefits which went up from nine to 25 and corporate debts that went up from six to 13,
which broadly accounts for some of that rise, as it were, that wider rise.
Stage two complaints have also increased, which potentially reflects the current complaints
policy process, because we now, when we escalate cases, we don't ask complainants to provide
for further reasons, whereas we used to.
So that process has changed a bit,
hence easier to escalate.
The local government and social care ombudsman
has also reported a 33 % increase
in complaint volumes nationally over the past year
with pressures on council tax benefits and housing.
So this is a national trend, not just a local one.
However, our complaint volumes appear to be
no higher than average for the sector,
and there's no indication based on the data so far
this year that numbers are gonna rise further.
So, although we'll continue to monitor this.
And just on a wider note, thanks to Tim for this one,
I became aware that actually there are various
local government organisations that are currently
experiencing a deluge of AI -powered complaints, as it were.
So complaints written with the help of AI.
So that's a sort of double -edged sword.
On the plus side, it makes it easier for residents
that might have found it difficult to complain previously,
because they can get support that maybe wasn't available before.
On the negative side, those complaints are often very lengthy, very detailed, very technical,
and occasionally, as AIs want to do, full of hallucinations and made up law, case law.
So, which obviously then has to be worked through.
So it's a testament to the officers' hard work that they managed to deal with the increasing
complaints and still get them resolved within the statutory timeframe or the timeframes
we set ourselves.
I hope that answers your question.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:27:43
Jonathan, do you want to add something?
Yes, thank you, Chair.
Just to add to that, a bit of context, really.
Mr Jonathan Hicks - 0:27:49
What this report doesn't show is the number of complaints the year prior to that.
So although we had an increase on 25, 26 from the previous year, in the 23, 24 year we had over 200.
So in fact it's more as a result of a dip. So in fact the current level of compliance is more in line with where it was before the previous year.
But just, there is, I mean we do, it is interesting to track that because volumes, it is important to see how many we get.
We get an average of 24 complaints a month.
In this current year, we've received about 24.
Last year, the monthly average was 21, so it's slightly higher.
So it is something we are monitoring.
But there's no sort of indication that this is a significant rise yet.
Frank, just to add to this.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:28:47
I mean, I think it's interesting your point about AI -generated complaints, speaking personally.
I think that is just an issue that we are going to have to grapple with increasingly, actually.
I am not quite sure what the answer is, but I think it is going to be a challenging one.
I think that is what I would say at this stage.
Councillor Scoffron.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:29:08
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:29:09
I was interested in the AI generating complaints as well.
I am in the process of writing an academic paper and for the first time, I have not written one for a little bit,
I have had to put a declaration at the end saying whether or not I have used AI and whether
a generative AI has written part of my article.
I have never done it before.
I just wonder whether some thought might go into whether the complaints procedure might
acknowledge something similar, whether that would be useful.
I throw that in as an off -the -cuff thought.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:29:46
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:29:50
I think in terms of complaints, we obviously have a set timeframe for dealing with them,
which obviously occasionally we won't be able to do, but generally, as you can see from
the data, we've done very well.
So if we were to take into account the effect of AI, it would be more about how we manage
that within the resources we have because at the moment it's not necessarily presenting
an overall problem in terms of our resources, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Thank you, Ligur. And just following on there from Councillor Fuller's point with regard
Gavin Edwards - 0:30:24
to that and Councillor Speakman's comments as well on the AI -related complaints there.
Obviously the complaints policy is set around the local government social housing Ombudsman
as well as the housing Ombudsman codes. So we will obviously keep an eye on those to
if there is anything in future developments
that come out related to IAA complaints.
If it does, we will adjust that accordingly
in line with their complaint handling codes
around that if it does mention.
Fantastic.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:30:50
I spent a wet couple of weeks in Scotland recently
and I had time to read an article in The Guardian
that was reporting on a session
in the Association of Local Authority Lawyers.
talk about Liv Lane in the past track, you know.
And this is what all the discussion was about.
There is apparently floating around a 27 page complaint
about mould and growth, which is kind of flowing
around the local authority world as standard
and takes hours to respond to.
So I mean, it's good that it's popped up,
it's highlighted, and I think that sort of as a kind of a local authority community,
as it were, we will probably be looking at standard responses as AI generates the questions,
we'll probably be standardising the responses.
So, kind of a depressing look at the future, really, but that's what you get with AI.
I say that, I am going to refer to AI later on, but it's not all doom and gloom.
Good.
Okay.
So, Councillor Fuller proposed.
I was happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Terrific.
Thank you very much.
That's passed.

7 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) - Council policy

Item 7, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
Council policy pages 115 to 168 in your pack and Councillor Fuller is going to lead us
through this.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:32:38
So this is the annual RIFRA report, as it were.
You'll know that our most recent inspection was carried out by the IPCO in November 2025
and we were compliant with all of the requirements of the legislation.
The policy itself is basically just minor changes to update names of responsible officers, that kind of thing.
Just in terms of background of what we use it for, it allows senior officers to authorise directed surveillance,
which is basically watching people, as it were, gathering information but not being intrusive,
and also covert human intelligence services, which the council has never actually done,
but involves an individual effectively becoming a source of information and known to the person
that's being reviewed.
The last time we actually needed to use this policy at all, the same was for directed surveillance,
and that was in the 1st of June, 2012.
So I'm happy to move the report.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:33:47
Councillor Fuller, I'm very happy to second.
This is something that we will have to regularly do
as we go through, and happy to open it up
for questions or discussion.
No questions.
So we have a proposal in Councillor Fuller.
I was happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, that's passed.

8 Update on Regulator of Social Housing Inspection

We move on to item 8, which is an update on the regulator of social housing inspections, pages 169 -176.
This report presents the outcome of the inspections carried out by the regulator of social housing across four months of this year.
The RSH has judged a council housing landlord service to be, which has been awarded the
highest possible grading of C1.
My only regret is that Councillor Shroob isn't here to take a full congratulations, but it
just remains for me, as usual, to grab all the glory.
So I am going to, I have used a bit of AI here.
Previously, when we knew about this,
I Googled how many district councils have achieved C1,
and there were three.
Guildford, North Derbyshire, and ourselves.
I've just Googled it again,
and they've changed their tune slightly.
It says because the RSH regulates local authority landlords collectively as local authorities
oblique districts rather than separating district councils into distinct statistical categories,
an exact standalone tally exclusively for district councils is not separately published.
However, announcements from top performing authorities, such as Folkestone and Hive District
Council and Guildford Borough Council indicate that only a small handful of district level
and local authority landlords across England have successfully attained this top C1 tier
since comprehensive consumer inspections began.
To say that C1 is a major achievement is a major understatement.
I mean, I just... Rarely can I say that words fail me,
but I do not have the words to fully congratulate the team
on this major, major achievement.
The report is there, which outlines, I'm sure we're all familiar with the content.
Very happy to take any questions, but I am immensely happy on behalf of Councillor Shrew,
who has actually done all the hard work, to move this report.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:37:16
Oh, sorry. We have a presentation. This, in fact, was an idea of Councillor Prater to
draw to our collective attention the detail. Rather than my ebullient words, we're going
have some numbers that prove everything that we say. Oh really? Oh, Mike. Oh, great stuff.
Well, Mike is now going to lead us through it, which is going to be brilliant. So over
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:37:44
to you. Thank you, Lida. So yes, I thought it'd be
useful to start off just to run through the process. So back in April 2024, the regulator
of social housing introduced its revised consumer standards. And as part of that, they introduced
their inspection regime and they now will inspect every social housing landlord in the country at
least once every four years. And then at the end of that process they will issue a judgement
ranging from a C1 to a C4. As the leaders already indicated, C1 is the highest and means that we
meet the standards. C2 is deemed to be compliant but with some weaknesses. C3 serious failings and
see for very serious failings. But I thought it would also be useful just to remind you
all of the journey we've been on over the last few years. So back in 2019, we were still
part of East Kent Housing and we, along with Canterbury Dover and Thanet, made a self -referral
to the regulator on the back of some fairly serious compliance issues that we identified.
As a result of that, the regulator issued a regulatory notice to each of the four councils
later in 2019. That then led to us deciding to take the housing service
back into direct council management. There then followed a period of very
intensive engagement with the regulator and a lot and lot of hard work and as a
result of that we were delighted to be the first of the four East Kent housing
councils to have our regulatory notice lifted in August 2021. Because by then we
had a good relationship with the regulator.
They approached us when they decided
to do a pilot inspection programme.
And obviously, we jumped at the chance to be part of that.
They didn't give gradings at that time,
which we were disappointed in.
But we understood the reasons why,
because they were still working through the finer detail.
But they did give us the lovely feedback that you can see there.
They had a clear sense of the improvements
we've made in the two to three years since.
And it was clear that we were committed
to putting tenants at the heart of everything we do.
So when Susan got the call, late February, wasn't it, saying we're about to be inspected,
we then had a meeting with them where they talked through what the process would follow.
They asked us for some initial documentation to shape what they would actually be inspecting
us on, because each inspection's a bespoke piece of work.
We sent them 25, 26 documents at that point.
They then came back with the scoping framework
to let us know what they would be inspecting
and asked for further evidence.
We sent them another 120 plus documents.
And then they came here for three days to the Civic Centre.
They met with corporate leadership team managers
and officers from across the council.
They observed a meeting of the strategic tenant advisory panel.
They observed a meeting of the tenant scrutiny panel.
They held a tenant focus group solely the regulator and tenants officers weren't allowed to be part of that
But we got some lovely feedback from them. They said that all of the residents
They spoke to were proud of the engagement they have with us. They feel that we genuinely listen to their voices and
We were all over the moon when we heard the result that we've been given the C1 and as the leader said there are only
14 other local authority landlords in England to have one
We are the first in Kent.
And as you rightly said, leader, you don't publish it as such.
But I've been through the figures and there are only four district
or boroughs in the country that have got a C1 of which we are one.
So that's it from me.
And let's go to the questions.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:41:23
Thank you very much, my choir.
I have to add, I think it was their interview with me that actually swung it.
You know, I would say that, wouldn't I?
So, just to say, I can't say it enough,
thank you very much for all of your efforts.
Thank you to Jill, thank you to Andy,
thank you to everyone who's contributed
to this fantastic result.
No one can argue with this.
So, I'm delighted to open it for questions.
Councillor Brater.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:41:52
I was firstly going to second the recommendations
in order to make some lives easier.
I'd also like to say thank you to Michael
for that presentation.
I think that it really does show the journey.
I got to be, I am the only relic here
who was at the February 2020 cabinet meeting,
actually my first cabinet meeting,
who voted to bring that service back in house.
And the journey from there to here is extraordinary.
And that's due to the work of the team that has led on it.
And as you say, we can't thank those people enough
that have gone there because it really wasn't good in 2019,
we were in a really bad place,
and bringing it back in -house
was absolutely the right decision,
and six years has proved that.
As you say, very few other councils have this rating,
and some of those have had their services in -house
for time immemorial, and we turned it from
effectively a failing service
to one of the best in the country in six years,
and that's the work of the team.
I couldn't be prouder of them either.
I'd like to extend my thanks to them
while seconding that report.
So thank you.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:43:07
Any other questions or contributions to make?
So I was very happy to move this report.
Councillor Prater seconded.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, team.
And we're now on item nine.
Our last item, thank you very much, Councillor Fuller.

9 Solar PV: Smart Export Guarantee Policy - Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

This is solar PV smart export guarantee policy, the housing revenue account, pages 177 to
198.
This report provides an overview of the smart export guarantee scheme and its relevance
to Fosse and Hyde District Council, the solar PV assets within the HRA.
It outlines the outcomes of the pilot scheme with British Gas, summarises the financial
returns achieved to date, and presents indicative projections for scaling SCG registrations
across the Council's portfolio.
FOST and I of District Council currently have approximately 380 properties with solar PV
installed increasing to 500 by April 2027.
The initial pilot results demonstrate that SEG can provide a modest revenue stream with
surplus electricity generation.
this report seeks acceptance of the new HRA -SEG policy and for the council to be
the sole beneficiary of the smart export guarantee sorry smart export guarantee
export tariff payments. Good. So essentially prior to this if solar panels
were installed upon a tenant's house.
The tenant not only benefited from the cheap electricity generated by the panels, but also
benefited from the sale of the electricity from the panels.
A change in legislation has allowed us and everyone else to separate those.
So the tenant still benefits from the cheap electricity
or free electricity, but any sale of electricity
back to the grid, the revenue comes back to us.
Now, the sale of electricity to the grid
is at a very, very, very low level.
I forget what it is now in terms of kilowatt hour.
Hence the very modest returns.
But if the solar panels last long enough,
12 years, 15 years, et cetera,
they will pay for themselves.
So it is a way in which we get the money back
for the installation, although it will take some time.
But nevertheless, what this does is it effectively removes
the obstacle of not being able to recover the cost of installation for the council.
So it should allow, after this pilot has been done, it should allow us to roll out more
PV across more of the stock. So it's really good news and I am happy to move the report.
Councillor Prita.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:46:53
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:46:55
I'm happy to second. I would like to make one point though that I think the easy read
version of this actually is a little less easy to read or a little less clearer than
it could be on the key point on this, which is that essentially, where we've put solar
panels onto a tenant's house, they get cheap electricity, and the council gets any money
from the export scheme.
Actually, I think it could say that quite,
yeah, that is the intention of this thing.
I think the easy read version,
in fact, the report itself could probably say it as well,
but it can do that in more words,
but the easy read version doesn't say that.
That is the separation in this,
and therefore there is a massive benefit to the tenant
for that cheaper electricity,
and that's great, and that's what the scheme is there for.
And the financial benefit,
which is coming back to the council,
we are ring marking to put more solar panels then
onto more houses so other tenants can also join that.
So I think that's absolutely right thing to do.
It's absolutely correct.
That's why I absolutely second that and I move it.
I think we could just say it's a little bit clearer
in certainly that easy read version,
but that's what the intention is.
The tenant gets the electric, we get any cash.
There isn't very much cash on selling back these days,
but there is a little bit of it.
And that money is then going to supporting more tenants
to have more solar panels.
so they save as well.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:48:19
Thanks very much, Councillor Prita.
I'm sure that's noted and will be recorded.
But essentially, it is the removal of this blockage,
not only for us, but effectively across
the social housing stock in the country,
and will make, I think, a huge change,
Not only in helping people in terms of reducing their everyday electricity costs, but also
in terms of net zero electricity production.
Are there any other questions or clarifications?
Councillor Speightman.
I apologise to shut up.
I think it's the last one anyway.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:49:05
I just, probably in the report, and point of admission, when you said the money was
That's absolutely right.
There is this funding we get back from the feed -in tariff,
or whatever you call it,
that is actually ring -fenced for future solar panels.
I mean, I'm just saying if somebody asks us that,
we can say that categorically.
But I think I can confirm that.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:49:31
Yeah, that's correct.
Mr Andy Blaszkowicz - 0:49:33
It's up to us what we use it for,
what we are gonna ring -fence it for
for the solar installations within the HRA.
Councillor Schaffman.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:49:42
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:49:45
Just noting the problem with the non -compliant metres, I just wondered whether that was going to be an ongoing problem or any further thoughts on that.
Because I guess that it could become an issue.
FHDC Officer - 0:50:01
Yes, the challenge that we face is that in order for us to obtain the SEG payments,
we have to have current smart metres that can produce half hourly metre readings.
The smart metres are something that we obviously encourage all of our residents to obtain via their suppliers,
but it's something that is ultimately a resident's choice.
So there are still some legacy key metres or early smart metres that are non -compliant
in terms of being able to generate the metre readings required for the smart exports.
but it is something that we will work closely with the residents to try and engage them further on.
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:50:45
I guess that going forward increasing confidence in the smart metres would be very helpful because they were a little bit,
they didn't get a very good press initially but I think they settled down, wouldn't they? Would that be right?
FHDC Officer - 0:50:59
Yes, exactly. The early smart metres were somewhat difficult in terms of when it came to changing suppliers
and then their reliability.
The latest version, the SMET -2s,
are far more resilient to that fact.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:51:16
I think now that we've completed the pilot
and we're able to kind of analyse what we've done,
et cetera, et cetera,
any further programmes that are rolled out in the future
will have an emphasis on communication
in terms of the advantages to the individual tenants.
to encourage them to take up the offer,
which will mean a smart metre.
But overall, it makes a great deal of financial sense
to the individual tenant.
So we have a proposer.
I was happy to propose.
Councillor Prater seconded.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, everyone.
And that concludes our business for this evening.
So I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening.
.