Housing business plan 2025

The Housing Business Plan 2025-55 outlines Wealden District Council’s long term financial plan to ensure our homes are maintained to a high standard, are energy efficient, and reflects our ambitions to deliver more affordable housing.  This Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan sets out details of our income and expenditure and how we plan to manage, maintain, and improve our assets. Our primary ambition is to ensure that every resident has access to safe, sustainable, and high-quality housing.

1.1 Properties for investment

Our Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2025-55 highlights three key priorities for investment:

• Maintaining our stock: We are committed to maintaining our existing stock with a clear focus on building safety. This includes compliance with fire safety, gas and electricity safety checks, periodic asbestos survey inspections, water safety checks, and annual servicing of communal lifts in Retirement Living Courts.
• Decarbonisation of our homes: We aim to deliver our corporate ambition of being carbon zero by 2050. This involves developing retrofit programmes focusing on a fabric-first approach, renewable energy, and emerging heating technologies.
• Increasing the supply of new council homes: We continue to be ambitious in delivering more council homes. This includes building homes on HRA-owned land, or acquiring S106 obligated affordable homes from developers. We are also keen to explore the opportunities presented by Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) as an alternative approach to traditional new-build homes.

1.2 Financial Management

Our financial plan is based on key assumptions to mitigate risks and changes that may occur. We maintain an Interest Cover Ratio (ICR) above the standard rate of 1.25 to ensure robust financial management. Removal of the debt cap allows us to align our borrowing with available revenue streams, ensuring the sustainability of our investments.

1.3 Our Income

Our income is primarily derived from property rents, service charges, and garage rents. Property rents account for 90% of our income, service charges contribute 8%, and garage rents make up 1%. Other sources of income include feed-in tariff receipts, management fee income, licenses, interest received on HRA cash balances, and contributions from the General Fund towards amenities shared by the community.

1.4 Our Expenditure

Our expenditure includes the capital investment programme, management and tenants’ services, repairs and maintenance, and payment of interest and borrowing. Management costs relate to managing and maintaining our tenancies, service costs are for services provided where we can recover the costs through service charges, and repairs and maintenance expenditure includes responsive repairs, cyclical works, void repairs, and redecoration.

1.5 Conclusion

The Housing Business Plan 2025 is a comprehensive roadmap for delivering affordable housing and removing financial barriers to investment. By focusing on these priorities, we aim to create a thriving community where every resident has access to quality housing and a better quality of life.

2.1 Foreword

Wealden District Council owns1 and manages its own housing stock of 3,054 rented properties, 205 Right to Buy leasehold properties, 23 shared ownership properties and 66 Retirement Living leasehold2 ownership properties. We also own other housing-related assets such as 358 garages, parking areas/ hard-standings and small areas of land that sit within our Housing Portfolio.

As a stock-holding local authority, it is vital that we have an up-to-date plan that looks at how we manage our social housing business. This Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan sets out details of our income and expenditure and how we plan to manage, maintain and improve our assets.

The plan will detail our ambitions over the next five years and beyond as well as how we manage and look to improve our existing housing stock. It will set out the scope for investment in both current and new homes, including investment in the decarbonisation of our stock.

In April 2012 with the introduction of self-financing, the Council took on a debt of £47.9 million scheduled for repayment over a 30-year period. In return for this, we are now able to retain our full rental income, putting control back locally and strengthening the link between the rent we collect and the services we provide to our tenants and leaseholders. Our aim is to secure the best possible outcomes from our investments to ensure we are meeting the housing needs of local people.

This 30-year plan is written in line with our new Council Strategy, understanding that we operate within a changing economic and political environment. Following the elections in May 2023, political leadership of the Council changed, and the Alliance for Wealden was formed, made up of the Liberal Democratic and the Green parties. In November 2024 the two Labour members also joined the Alliance for Wealden. The plan will be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure we have a balanced Housing Revenue Account, with annual reports taken to full council for approval each year as part of our budget setting process.

2.2 Overview of the Housing Revenue Account

Any local authority that owns 200 or more social dwellings is required by law to account for them within their Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The HRA records expenditure and income on running the Council’s own housing stock and closely related services or facilities, which are provided primarily for the benefit of the Council’s own tenants.

The format of the HRA is set down by the Government. The main features are:

• it is a landlord account, recording expenditure and income arising from the provision of housing accommodation by the Council;
• it is not a separate fund but a ring-fenced account of certain defined transactions, relating to the Council’s housing stock, within the General Fund;
• the main items of expenditure included in the account are management and maintenance costs, major repairs, local changes and depreciation costs;
• the main sources of income are from Council tenants in the form of rents and service charges;
• the HRA should be based on accruals in accordance with proper accounting practices, rather than cash

2.3 Background to our HRA Business Plan

It is important that our Business Plan is regularly monitored and updated, to manage our landlord services effectively.

Our ability to provide the ongoing maintenance and management resources needed to sustain our housing stock and other assets, relies on the rental income from our homes. To maximise investment in our Council homes and continue providing good quality services to our tenants, our finances must be well managed, and our services must offer value for money.

This plan aims to meet the priorities set out in our Housing Strategy, government standards, legislative requirements as well as customer expectations. Additionally, it:

• provides the latest information on the profile and condition of our housing stock and other assets;
• considers the demand for housing, and how the finances available for investment in our existing assets, services and to build or purchase new Council homes are used;
• considers the sustainability of our housing stock and other assets;
• considers the delivery of the Council’s priorities and the housing service’s strategic objectives as detailed in the Housing Strategy;
• sets out our revised 30-year financial modelling based upon current and projected resources covering the period from 2025 to 2055.

2.4   Regulation

As a result of the Grenfell tragedy, a green paper titled “A new deal for social housing” was published in 2018. In 2020, The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper was published and the Government set out a commitment to strengthen the Regulator’s consumer regulation role to enable them to proactively monitor registered providers’ and local authority landlords’ compliance with a set of revised consumer standards.

To support delivery of the white paper the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 was introduced expanding the powers of the Regulator for Social Housing to ensure it has the right tools to effectively carry out this enhanced role. The Act also strengthened the role of the Housing Ombudsman and the relationship between the Housing Ombudsman and the Housing Regulator.

The 2023 Act also amended the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 to give the Regulator of Social Housing a new power to issue a Code of Practice in relation to the consumer standards.

In Autumn 2023 the Regulator of Social Housing consulted on revised Consumer Standards, which were adopted and formally implemented from 1st April 2024. The underlying principle of the standards is that social landlords should be accountable to their tenants. To achieve this, it was essential that the new consumer standards make a meaningful difference to tenants, be deliverable by landlords and that the Regulator for Social Housing must be able to regulate against them. With the Regulator seeking to achieve a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.

The Regulator aims to drive improvements across the sector to ensure that social landlords:

• provide good quality homes and services to all tenants;
• make best use of their resources to deliver what they are required to as landlords;
• recognise when standards have fallen short and put things right

Under each of the standards the Regulator now sets out outcomes and specific expectations that social landlords must achieve. Although Local Authority landlords are not subject to the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, or Value for Money Standard under the umbrella Economic Standards, they are subject to the Rent Standard. They are also subject to all four Consumer Standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard Transparency and Influence and Accountability Standard.

The Regulator considers that:

• Boards and councillors of landlords are responsible for ensuring their organisations are managed effectively and that they deliver the outcomes of our standards;
• Landlords are responsible for providing evidence to the Regulator, that they are delivering the outcomes of the standards;
• Landlords must be open and transparent, informing the Regulator in a timely way about any material issues that might result in a failure to deliver the outcomes of the standards;
• Landlords must provide tenants with information so they can understand how well their landlord is performing and enable them to shape and scrutinise service delivery.

2.5 Legislation

The most recent change has been the introduction of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 as detailed in 1.4 and Section 11.

Prior to this, the Localism Act 2011 which enabled us to make a number of changes to our working practices. This includes letting new homes at an affordable rent level (80% of market values) which ensured developments were viable. Although we used our powers under the Localism Act 2011 to introduce Flexible Fixed Term tenancies in June 2013, in December 2023, Cabinet approved the decision to phase out this type of tenancy.

Following this change we have updated our Tenancy Policy.

2.6 Principles Underpinning our Business Plan

Following the introduction of self-financing, like most stock-holding Councils, we have introduced a suite of

comprehensive policies and practices for effective management of the HRA. There are consequently six

principles we use to guide the implementation of our HRA Business Plan:

Co-regulation – We must comply with the principle of co-regulation as set out by the Regulator of Housing in

‘Consumer Standards Code of Practice April 2024,’ which focuses on transparency, accountability, value for money and influence through involving tenants in shaping service development, and delivery as well as in decision making.

Financial Viability – We have put in place arrangements to monitor and review the viability of our social housing business and take appropriate actions to maintain this.

Communication and Governance – We govern our social housing business in a clear and concise manner. We consult with various stakeholders as necessary and communicate details of our achievements in our Annual Report for tenants and leaseholders and through the publication of this Business Plan. Our finances are kept under constant review with regards to the current operating environment and reported back to Councillors annually.

Risk Management – We consistently manage and monitor risks to the HRA including changes in government policy and legislation, inflation, void levels, economic environment, changes to rent policy, and Right to Buy. Mitigations are put in place on an annual basis to address any risks. An annual Business Plan report is prepared for Councillors and annual budget setting approved to ensure the HRA finances remain well managed.

Financial and Treasury Management – We comply with proper accounting practices and ensure that any borrowing is sustainable in the long term.

3.1 Our vision

Wealden District Council Strategy 2023 and refreshed in May 2025, centers around three themes:

• Climate change and our environment
• Community resilience and wellbeing
• Local economy

With housing contributing to each of these themes, in particular to the following specific priorities under each theme:

Climate change and our environment

CE1. Tackle the Climate Emergency: We will update our Climate Change Strategy and action plan to deliver change that will lead towards our goal to be a carbon neutral district and ensure that everything we do has the least possible adverse impact on carbon production.

As part of our HRA Business Plan we have a programme of energy efficiency and decarbonisation works to our existing homes aiming to bring all up to an energy rating of at least a C SAP rating. We also aim to achieve an SAP rating of A for the new homes we deliver.

Community resilience and wellbeing

CW3. Affordable Homes: We will enable provision of truly affordable homes that meet the needs of our community and are of the highest possible environmental standards as well as investing in energy efficiency measures in our existing council homes.

As part of our HRA Business Plan we continue to deliver new council homes, both on HRA land and through working closely with Registered Providers, developers and planners to ensure the delivery of affordable housing under section 106 agreements.

CW4. Listening & Community Engagement: We will strengthen local democracy and build trust in the council by developing a culture of listening and engagement to enable greater involvement of residents, communities and businesses in decisions on council services and priorities.

We have a dedicated Tenant Involvement Team that delivers our Tenant Engagement Strategy which offers a vast range of ways for tenants and leaseholders to get involved. We continue to see the numbers of engaged residents grow.

We have also set up a new Consumer Panel and Wealden and Tenants Together Board, to give tenants and leaseholders opportunities to meaningfully influence and make decisions about our services that affect them.  

CW6. Equality, diversity and inclusion: We will embed equality, diversity and inclusion as a priority across the Council and the district with targeted support for those who experience the most disadvantage in our communities.

We continue to identify and work with our hard-to-reach tenants to ensure they can access our services and have the opportunity to be involved, making reasonable adjustments in line with the Equalities Act. This work will be accelerated when our new IT system is in place.

Local economy

LE7. Sustainable Construction and Retrofit: We will work with partners to invest in skills and capacity in the local economy so that existing and new public and private buildings across the district can become low carbon, well insulated and energy efficient, existing buildings are retained and establish Wealden as a leader in the green economy.

We are working with Osborne Energy, a local company based in East Sussex, to undertake retrofit works to our council properties, including solar panels and increased insultation as well as renewable heating options.

To deliver the Council’s corporate priorities, the Housing Strategy 2020-25 highlights the following three strategic objectives:

• Increasing housing supply – There needs to be a mix of housing types provided across the district to meet the needs of our residents. This includes increasing the provision of affordable housing, through shared ownership and for rent.
• Improving housing quality – Our Housing service aims to ensure that all properties in the district regardless of tenure or type (including mobile homes) are decent, safe, warm, secure and healthy.
• Providing housing advice and support for individuals and communities – This is essential to improving the quality of life for Wealden residents.

These three strategic objectives are underpinned by a set of key principles:

• Value for money – making sure services are efficient and provide maximum impact;
• Improving neighborhoods – making sure services contribute to creating safe sustainable communities;
• Reducing inequality – making sure that services are welcoming and responsive to the needs of the whole of Wealden’s community;
• Partnership working – making sure the Council works with other agencies that can help improve the quality of life for residents in the district.

This Business Plan sets out how our landlord service helps deliver the Housing Strategy’s three strategic objectives through:

1. Maintaining our stock – in accordance with the Decent Homes Standard and undertaking additional fire safety measures.
2. Decarbonisation of our homes – reducing their carbon
3. Increasing the supply of Council housing supported by borrowing, capital receipts or grant to build new Council homes and replace homes lost through the Right to Buy.

These will be referred to in Section 7.

4.1 Housing Supply

Of the 68,267 properties in Wealden within the District, 77% of all homes are owner occupied (44.7% without a mortgage or loan and 32.3% with), 1.2% shared ownership, 8.4% social rented (either Council or Registered Provider/ housing association), 13.5% private rented.1 This low supply of Council/ Registered Provider and private rented homes compared to the profile in East Sussex and England makes addressing the housing options for those on limited incomes challenging. We continue to build new Council homes subject to finances and work with Registered Providers and developers to try and increase supply the supply of social housing both for rent and shared ownership.

The Council stock makes up approximately 4.4% of the total number of homes in the district.

The Council owns and manages its own housing stock of 3,0543 rented properties. This includes four properties of supported housing for rough sleepers, 33 properties for temporary accommodation and 18 properties for resettled refugees. There are also some properties that sit outside the Housing Revenue Account that were purchased with general fund and government grants but are managed and maintained in the same way as the HRA properties. In addition, we manage 27 properties on behalf of A2 Dominion across two sites. The Council collects the rent and provides the same management services as it does for its own tenants in return for an administration fee and a set cost per month for repairs works. A2 Dominion remains responsible for any major works or modernisations to the properties.

We also manage 205 leasehold properties sold under the Right to Buy

66 Retirement Living leasehold properties, two Right to Buy shared ownership properties and 23 other shared ownership properties as well as 358 garages. 4 The Housing Service also manages and maintains car parking areas, unadopted roadways, pathways, grass amenity areas, play areas and verges.

The Council owns housing stock in 35 of the 42 towns/parishes within Wealden, with just over 60% concentrated in the main towns of Hailsham, Crowborough, Heathfield, Polegate and Uckfield. The remainder of the stock is in the small hamlets and villages in rural locations.

The stock is made up of 85% general needs housing (of which 2.7% are age-restricted properties), 14% Retirement Living and 1% temporary accommodation.

The highest demand is for 1 bedroomed properties, with 49.69% of all housing applicants seeking this sized accommodation2. One bedroomed homes represents  7.6% of all housing in Wealden but 40.57% of Council owned stock, however, excluding retirement living it represents just 27.2%. Of those on the waiting list for 1 bedroom accommodation, 8.4% require retirement living.

This under supply of general needs 1 bedroomed properties is currently creating a problem when meeting the housing need of those requiring social housing. The oversupply of Retirement Living does on occasions result in low demand for some vacancies.

Wealden as a district has a very low supply of smaller properties across all tenures. The 2021 census reported that 7.6% of all housing tenures is one bedroom properties, 26.9% two bedrooms, 34.9% three bedrooms with 30.6% having four or more bedrooms. The table below shows the size breakdown of the Council’s own rented stock which shows a much lower profile of larger accommodation with four or more bedrooms.

Our rented stock is fairly evenly split between 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom properties with few larger properties. We have undertaken considerable work to remove the low demand bedsit accommodation from our stock. Of the eight bedsits remaining, two are Retirement Living flats which will be converted to one bedroom flats when the properties are vacated and the other six are used for temporary accommodation. Of the 1241 one-bedroom properties, a third are Retirement Living properties. In addition, we have 25 shared ownership general needs properties (two of which are Right to Buy shared ownership), which consist of 13 two-bedroom houses and 12 three-bedroom houses and 66 leasehold retirement living flats and bungalows (32 flats and 34 bungalows). As part of our Asset Management Plan, we continue to explore options to ensure a correlation in our supply against current and predicted future demand (using external data such as population projections) and look at options to address any imbalances.

The stock profile figure below illustrates that, like most local authorities, the majority of our housing was built in the immediate post war years and through the 1970’s and 1980’s. Because the majority of our stock is of traditional build and predominantly post-war it is more straightforward to improve the energy efficiency levels of these properties. However, we do have challenges caused by the unique nature of the Wealden style with tile hung properties which are much harder to address in terms of energy efficiency.

Breakdown by rent level

The Council lets properties at two different levels: affordable rents and social rents. Since 2013, all new properties built or purchased by the Council have been set at affordable rents (80% of market rent). This change is due to a decrease in the amount of Government grant available per property.  As a result, higher rent levels are necessary to cover the costs of borrowing to fund the development.

Social rents are regulated by the Government’s rent setting policy and affordable rents are set at a maximum of 80% of the market value for that property (including any service charges). We currently have 337 properties at affordable rent (67 Retirement Living properties and the rest general needs) and 2,717 at social rent.

Rent increases to our social rented properties will be in line with the current Government Policy which is currently set at CPI +1%. This rent settlement has been confirmed for 2025/26, and the Government are consulting on keeping this for a further five years, possibly 10 years.

4.2    Demand for Affordable Housing

There are a number of factors which have and will continue to have an impact on the demand for affordable housing nationally including the Welfare Reform Act 2012, the Housing and Planning Act 2016, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and the pending Renters Reform Act. As well as economic factors such as the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Access to the private rented sector continues to get harder, mainly due to the very limited number of properties that are available at affordable rents.

The Council maintains a Housing Register for those seeking affordable rented housing in Wealden or who want to transfer from an existing social housing property.

As of 28 April 2025, there were 962 live housing applications. The number of lettings available to those on the housing register between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st March 2025 was 635. Of which 275 were Council properties (of these 57 Retirement Living) and 360 Registered Provider properties (of these 15 Retirement Living). These 635 properties included 263 new properties of which 45 were council properties (7 properties purchased and 38 new builds), the rest were new build Registered Provider properties.

It is important to ensure we meet customers’ needs and therefore we need to ensure a correlation between supply and demand. Since the last Business Plan update, we have been able to address the low demand for some two- bedroom flats and are keeping this under review.

However, there is still some mismatch between the size and type of properties available, and the need from those on the Housing Register. For example, despite 49% of those on the housing register needing one bedroom accommodation, just 28% of vacancies last year were this sized accommodation. We therefore need to continue to ensure that we maximise opportunities to increase our supply of

one-bedroom properties through our new build programme and through working with private developers and Registered Providers on section 106 sites. We continue to keep under review demand for our accommodation to ensure we can meet current and future needs and keep void times and loss of revenue to a minimum.

4.3 Homelessness

In Wealden, the number of homeless applications received has remained high since our last Business Plan produced in 2021. The most common reasons given for presenting as homeless is loss of an assured shorthold tenancy, family no longer willing to accommodate and relationship with partner has ended (non-violent breakdown).

In 2024/25 we dealt with 456 homelessness applications. Of these 314 households were prevented or relieved from becoming homeless and 95 households had a full duty accepted under the homelessness legislation. We have an excellent track record in preventing homelessness either through advice and assistance, however, in the current climate it is harder to help households to secure alternative accommodation and so we have recently reviewed our Letsure Scheme, which provides assistance to households to access the private rented sector.

However, even with our successes on that front, in 2023/24 the length of stay homeless households spent in emergency accommodation peaked at 11.21 weeks. The pandemic, followed by the cost-of-living crisis has impacted on the Council’s ability to prevent or relieve homelessness. Our inability to secure accommodation in the private rented sector, particularly for single people, has increased the length of time spent in emergency accommodation. This is because of both the shortage of one-bedroom properties and the single room rate allowance for under 35 years olds in receipt of any benefits for housing. We have also seen a spike in our use of temporary accommodation since the start of the Covid pandemic and this continues as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. Since the last Business Plan update in 2021 our use of temporary accommodation has remained at an unprecedented high with 72 households in temporary accommodation as of April 2025.

As well as demand we are experiencing an increasing need for housing options for those with more multiple and complex needs.

Bed and Breakfast is the most common form of emergency accommodation currently used for households presenting as homeless, followed by self-contained temporary accommodation within the Council’s own housing stock of 32 units, which has grown by 68% since the last update. We have also recently been able to secure access to further emergency accommodation within our district, therefore reducing reliance on out-of-area placements.

We have been very successful as part of an East Sussex partnership in obtaining grant funding under the Next Steps and Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programmes, to support rough sleepers and acquire accommodation for this client group. We have eight units of supported accommodation of which four are owned by the Housing Revenue Account and four the General Fund as these were part funded by the Homelessness Grant.

The income needed to run our landlord services and maintain and improve our housing stock comes from three main sources:

5.1 Property rents

90% of the income that we receive comes from the rents of the 3054 homes that we own, the  Retirement Living shared ownership properties and 23 shared ownership properties.

Since the vast majority of our money comes from rents, loss of income through rent arrears and properties being empty can have a significant impact on our delivery of this Business Plan. Due to the condition that properties are being left in at void stage and us utilising the opportunity to undertake improvement works the length of time that a property is empty between tenants has increased from 23 days in 2019-20 to 64 days in 2024/25. This led to a rent loss in 2024/25 of approximately £469,000.

5.2   Service charges

8% of our income comes from service charges. We recover service charges from tenants, leaseholders including Right to Buy and Retirement Living leaseholders. Service charges are varied and include providing communal services, such as cleaning, grounds maintenance and electricity. The amount that we collect for each type of service charge, is calculated to recover the costs of providing the service.

The HRA Service Charges Policy updated in 2024 explains how service charges are calculated and collected and the different types of service charges we provide and recharge for.

5.3  Garage rents

1% of our income comes from the garages that we rent out. In recent years we have invested in our garages to ensure they continue to meet residents’ needs and are in good condition. Further work is needed to develop a policy on how garage rents are set and reviewed to ensure we maximise the value of these assets.

5.4 Other sources of income

Other sources of income include feed-in tariff receipts as a result of the installation of solar panels on some our Retirement Living and new build properties, management fee income for A2 Dominion, licences, interest received on HRA cash balances and a contribution from the General Fund towards amenities shared by the community.

Capital receipts from the sale of properties through the Right to Buy scheme and shared ownership sales receipts are used to fund capital investment in new homes.

HRA expenditure includes the capital investment programme, management and tenants’ services, repairs and maintenance and payment of interest and borrowing.

The pie chart below illustrates how we spend our income:

Management costs relate to managing and maintaining our tenancies

• Service costs are for services provided where we can recover the costs through service charges to tenants and leaseholders, this includes the Retirement Living service, grounds maintenance, communal cleaning and lighting
• Repairs and maintenance expenditure includes responsive repairs, cyclical works, void repairs and redecoration
• Capital Financing is the cost of borrowing that has been taken out for investment in our capital programme i.e. interest on loans and repayment of debt
• Revenue funding of the HRA Capital programme includes the depreciation calculated on council dwellings/non- dwellings that funds capital expenditure through the major repairs and also includes the amount of revenue that is being used to fund the capital programme (some of this is funded out of general reserves)
• Rents, rate, taxes and other charges expenditure is around £170,000 per annum and is the cost to the council of properties being empty.
• The provision for bad debts and write-offs is approximately £202,000 per annum. It is assumed that due to the current economic climate arrears are likely to remain at their current level with the potential for further write-offs/debt provision, which represents a cost to the Council.

Set within legal, regulatory and strategic context and our financial resources, this Business Plan aims to deliver access to good quality, safe and sustainable homes.

All investment has to balance the priorities of maintaining our current stock to the Decent Homes Standard, increased compliance requirements, decarbonising our stock to meet our corporate aspiration of being carbon zero by 2050 and increasing the supply of homes to meet demand and replace properties lost through Right to Buy.

8.1 Maintaining our stock

Maintaining our existing stock remains a priority with a clear focus on building safety. An enhanced focus on fire safety has seen us complete programmes of work on compartmentation at Retirement Living Courts and blocks of flats plus the upgrading of fire alarm systems and upgrading of emergency lighting systems. Programmes of work continue to upgrade all fire safety doors (see page 19).

The Decent Homes Standard is under review by the Government and the result of the review is awaited. This will inform a review of our HRA Asset Management Plan with any recommendations for change being brought to a future meeting of Cabinet. Under the current Decent Homes Standard,  2.35% of our stock is classified as non decent. However, this is as a result of poor data quality that is in the process of being validated. We are aiming to complete validation work during 2025/26 and at the same time rectifying any homes found to be non-decent under the current standard. We aim to reaching 0% non-decent, before 2028.

In terms of improving building safety, we have continued to ensure compliance with gas and electricity safety checks, and we continue to undertake periodic asbestos survey inspections in all properties and water safety checks and inspections in Retirement Living Courts. In addition to ensuring lifts in Retirement Living Courts are annually serviced.

Rather than one-off stock condition surveys we now carry out ongoing rolling stock condition surveys and utilise all opportunities to check the validity of our existing data. This provides us with a flexible approach capable of responding to emerging priorities, technologies and funding opportunities.

We have also continued to focus on improving energy efficiency by ensuring all properties have loft and cavity wall insulation with the installation of air source heat pumps or high efficiency storage heaters in off-gas network areas. These works contribute to the decarbonisation of our homes detailed further below.

We are committed to providing safe and secure internet access for our Retirement Living residents and have just installed public access Wi-Fi to our communal lounges and some other communal spaces in eight of our Retirement Living Courts. Three courts did not wish to have Wi-Fi installed at this stage.

8.2 Decarbonisation of our homes

Over the past 10 years we have made considerable investment in energy efficiency measures and the decarbonisation of our homes. This has included the installation of PV solar systems on our Retirement Living Courts and some of our new affordable rental homes, we have in excess of 200 air source heat pumps in off gas network properties, loft and cavity wall insulation programmes and LED light bulb installation and distribution. We have undertaken a project to retrofit off gas network properties providing renewable heating and, in some cases, solar PV. We have improved our asset component replacement specification to ensure all reroofed properties have embedded solar PV added at the same time as the reroofing work and all window replacements are triple glazed as standard. We have been removing and refilling any substandard cavity wall insulation.

However, we need to go much further to help deliver our corporate ambition of being carbon zero by 2050.

We are using our asset data to continue to develop retrofit programmes of work action plan that will focus on a fabric first approach, a commitment to renewable energy and emerging heating technologies alongside promoting behavioural changes and improves new build energy efficiency standards. We have been successful in obtaining government funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund and will continue to bid where funding opportunities arise.

8.3 Ambitions to increase the supply of new council homes

The Council continues to be ambitious to build more Council homes, subject to finance and planning restrictions and increase the supply of affordable housing through s.106 obligated homes, and street purchases. We have utilised Government funding opportunities to purchase homes under all three rounds of Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) and have delivered 11 properties for Homes for Ukraine, one for temporary accommodation and seven for Afghan Resettled refugees with one further property in the pipeline. In the current market the most cost effective way to add to the HRA stock is to acquire S106 obligated affordable homes from developers, which we are actively pursuing with developers as opportunities arise that are financially viable within the Business Plan.

We currently have a programme of 58 new build council homes in development across four sites and one street purchase under the LAHF programme. 52 of these will be for affordable rent and seven for shared ownership. Delivery of these homes will be from late 2025/26 to 2029/30.

The Business Plan financial modelling reflects the current Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) New Build programme for the period 2025/26 to 2029/30, approved in February 2025. As new opportunities for investment in new homes arise, the Business Plan and MTFS will be updated, ensuring that the financing of these investments is affordable and sustainable. We are also committed to exploring Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) as an alternative approach to traditional new-build homes, where appropriate.

Our housing is a valuable asset to the Council. This section looks back at some of our achievements during recent years in relation to making best use of our assets, maintaining our current stock and increasing our housing stock to replace properties lost through the Right to Buy scheme and to meet local need.

7.1 Making best use of our assets

We have undertaken a number of projects and ongoing work streams including:

• A fundamental review of our sheltered housing stock to move away from bedsit accommodation. Four Retirement Living schemes across the district have been demolished and replaced with general needs homes. One Retirement Living Court has been completely remodelled to remove all bedsit accommodation, converting all units into one bedroom The last two bedsits in one other court will be remodelled once vacant which completes the removal of all bedsit accommodation.
• A review of Temporary accommodation which resulted in some additional HRA properties being used for temporary accommodation to reduce the use of, and cost of bed and breakfast placements. Additional temporary accommodation has been purchased using government grant.
• An increase in accessible temporary accommodation for those that need it, including a wheelchair accessible flat, disabled adapted flat and the purchase of three adapted bungalows, of which two are wheelchair
• We have reviewed the condition and use of our garages and carried out a piece of work to maximise letting of empty garages. This has resulted in additional income being generated for the HRA.

Ongoing work includes:

• We continually review demand and supply and in recent years this has resulted in us needing to address low demand, for particular building architypes or locations, for example some two-bedroom flats and some bungalows. This is done through Local Lettings Plans and
• We are working with our telecom provider for lifeline services to upgrade our systems to digital before the switchover happens in 2025.
• We tackle tenancy fraud by carrying out tenancy audit visits to ensure that the property is being occupied by the person to whom it was allocated.
• We encourage tenants under occupying their current property to downsize to a smaller property and provide financial assistance for this through the Tenant Incentive Scheme, which has recently been updated to ensure it meets the needs of our customers.
• We have been using opportunities presented when properties are void to not only undertake improvement work but also to undertake decarbonisation works and install environment sensors to help with the management of condensation along with additional ventilation works and improvement to heating systems.

7.2 Maintaining our homes

We continue to maintain our homes in accordance with the Decent Homes Standard.

In the last 5 years we have undertaken:

• Planned programmes of works including kitchen and bathroom modernisations, replacing 391 kitchens and 158 bathrooms;
• Window and door replacement programmes, replacing windows on 338 properties, as well as on two retirement living courts, and 339 doors including replacement of fire doors onto communal areas;
• Replacement of 113 roofs and repointing of 177 properties;
• Heating upgrades, including the installation of 107 air source heat pumps and installation of high efficiency storage heaters to 54 properties as well as replacing 724 boilers with more energy efficient A rated boilers;
• Ensuring all properties have loft and cavity wall insulation in order to improve their energy efficiency, completing 229 loft insulation top ups and refilling 203 cavity walls;

Replaced 145 door canopies;

• Installed photovoltaic solar panels on 198 properties including two retirement living courts completing solar pv on all courts;
• Undertaken works to dangerous walls and footpaths, replacement fencing and refurbished integral sheds.

Our programme has also included in the past 5 years:

• A comprehensive compartmentation programme to all Retirement Living Courts and blocks of flats to prevent the spread of fire in roof spaces;
• Refurbishment and remodelling of Joan Hughes Court;
• Undertaking of monthly communal area fire checks to all Retirement Living Courts and all general needs blocks of flats with communal areas;
• Upgraded emergency lighting in all communal areas;
• Disabled adaptations to ensure the property is suitable for the occupants with 149 major works such as stairlifts or level access showers and 808 minor adaptations including grab rails and lever taps.

  7.3 Increasing Housing Supply

We took advantage of the freedoms announced in the Localism Act 2011 and changes in Right to Buy (RTB) policy in March 2012 to develop new Council housing for our communities.

We completed our first new build scheme in 2013/14 after a break of over 30 years from building new Council homes.

The focus of our programme has been:

• To make best use of our existing assets – underused land or underperforming buildings
• Delivering Section 106 Quota sites
• Street purchase programme to ensure we utilised all our Right to Buy receipts and target specific properties that will meet particular needs of residents on the Housing Register
• To date we have delivered the following new homes to rent or sale on a shared ownership basis (excludes properties delivered for the general fund)
• Built 188 new build council homes for rent
• Acquired 154 new build homes from private developers as part of their section 106 agreements (131 for rent and 23 for shared ownership)
• Purchased 44 street properties (existing properties being sold on the open market) 43 for rent and 1 for shared ownership

7.4 Delivery of new council homes 2020-25

Set within legal, regulatory and strategic context and our financial resources, this Business Plan aims to deliver access to good quality, safe and sustainable homes.

All investment has to balance the priorities of maintaining our current stock to the Decent Homes Standard, increased compliance requirements, decarbonising our stock to meet our corporate aspiration of being carbon zero by 2050 and increasing the supply of homes to meet demand and replace properties lost through Right to Buy.

8.1 Maintaining our stock

Maintaining our existing stock remains a priority with a clear focus on building safety. An enhanced focus on fire safety has seen us complete programmes of work on compartmentation at Retirement Living Courts and blocks of flats plus the upgrading of fire alarm systems and upgrading of emergency lighting systems. Programmes of work continue to upgrade all fire safety doors (see page 19).

The Decent Homes Standard is under review by the Government and the result of the review is awaited. This will inform a review of our HRA Asset Management Plan with any recommendations for change being brought to a future meeting of Cabinet. Under the current Decent Homes Standard,  2.35% of our stock is classified as non decent. However, this is as a result of poor data quality that is in the process of being validated. We are aiming to complete validation work during 2025/26 and at the same time rectifying any homes found to be non-decent under the current standard. We aim to reaching 0% non-decent, before 2028.

In terms of improving building safety, we have continued to ensure compliance with gas and electricity safety checks, and we continue to undertake periodic asbestos survey inspections in all properties and water safety checks and inspections in Retirement Living Courts. In addition to ensuring lifts in Retirement Living Courts are annually serviced.

Rather than one-off stock condition surveys we now carry out ongoing rolling stock condition surveys and utilise all opportunities to check the validity of our existing data. This provides us with a flexible approach capable of responding to emerging priorities, technologies and funding opportunities.

We have also continued to focus on improving energy efficiency by ensuring all properties have loft and cavity wall insulation with the installation of air source heat pumps or high efficiency storage heaters in off-gas network areas. These works contribute to the decarbonisation of our homes detailed further below.

We are committed to providing safe and secure internet access for our Retirement Living residents and have just installed public access Wi-Fi to our communal lounges and some other communal spaces in eight of our Retirement Living Courts. Three courts did not wish to have Wi-Fi installed at this stage.

8.2 Decarbonisation of our homes

Over the past 10 years we have made considerable investment in energy efficiency measures and the decarbonisation of our homes. This has included the installation of PV solar systems on our Retirement Living Courts and some of our new affordable rental homes, we have in excess of 200 air source heat pumps in off gas network properties, loft and cavity wall insulation programmes and LED light bulb installation and distribution. We have undertaken a project to retrofit off gas network properties providing renewable heating and, in some cases, solar PV. We have improved our asset component replacement specification to ensure all reroofed properties have embedded solar PV added at the same time as the reroofing work and all window replacements are triple glazed as standard. We have been removing and refilling any substandard cavity wall insulation.

However, we need to go much further to help deliver our corporate ambition of being carbon zero by 2050.

We are using our asset data to continue to develop retrofit programmes of work action plan that will focus on a fabric first approach, a commitment to renewable energy and emerging heating technologies alongside promoting behavioural changes and improves new build energy efficiency standards. We have been successful in obtaining government funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund and will continue to bid where funding opportunities arise.

8.3 Ambitions to increase the supply of new council homes

The Council continues to be ambitious to build more Council homes, subject to finance and planning restrictions and increase the supply of affordable housing through s.106 obligated homes, and street purchases. We have utilised Government funding opportunities to purchase homes under all three rounds of Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) and have delivered 11 properties for Homes for Ukraine, one for temporary accommodation and seven for Afghan Resettled refugees with one further property in the pipeline. In the current market the most cost effective way to add to the HRA stock is to acquire S106 obligated affordable homes from developers, which we are actively pursuing with developers as opportunities arise that are financially viable within the Business Plan.

We currently have a programme of 58 new build council homes in development across four sites and one street purchase under the LAHF programme. 52 of these will be for affordable rent and seven for shared ownership. Delivery of these homes will be from late 2025/26 to 2029/30.

The Business Plan financial modelling reflects the current Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) New Build programme for the period 2025/26 to 2029/30, approved in February 2025. As new opportunities for investment in new homes arise, the Business Plan and MTFS will be updated, ensuring that the financing of these investments is affordable and sustainable. We are also committed to exploring Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) as an alternative approach to traditional new-build homes, where appropriate.

Capital investment in our existing stock is our biggest cost within the business plan.

The Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme covers all aspects of capital expenditure relating to the Council’s landlord function. The Council’s approach to determining and funding its investment programmes is set out in the Council’s Capital Strategy, which explains the Council’s financial framework for capital investment in support of its strategic priorities. The Capital Strategy for the Housing Revenue Account capital programme reflects the self-financing housing regime.

The 30-year HRA Capital Programme has been drawn up to ensure that the Council meets its legal obligations as a landlord.

The Council has already invested significant resources over recent years to achieve the Decent Homes Standard.

The housing programme comprises the following main areas of work:-

• Maintenance of Decent Homes. Investment in our existing stock has been increased to reflect the stock condition survey requirements and the delivery of these requirements through our contractors. Cost implications of the Decent Homes Standard review are not yet known, therefore not included in the current investment plan. A review of the programmed works will be required once the new standard is announced
• The New build programme includes forecast delivery of a further 58 homes over the next 5 years. The programme will be updated for further delivery of new homes as investment opportunities arise.
• Wealden has the ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050. This will require changes in the way we manage our existing stock, address cost and policy implications, and plan for investing in new council homes. The investment programme continues to allocate £1 million per annum over 30 years for decarbonisation works, originally based on an approximate benchmark cost of £20,000 per property. However, the annual budget significantly falls short of providing adequate resources, with a financial commitment of at least £52 million required to meet net zero targets.

In 2024/25, the Government Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Grant provided £1.5 million, with an additional £1 million expected to be received. This increases the level of resources available to the council. The council will continue to bid for government grants as opportunities arise.

The following table shows the current projection of capital expenditure and financing over the next 30 years for investment in maintaining our stock and increasing housing supply through our new build programme.

Table 1: HRA Capital Programme investment and financing (30 years)

The HRA Business Plan plays a crucial role in achieving the Council’s overall goals and Housing Strategy. It outlines our income and spending plans for providing council housing services in Wealden over the next 30 years. We regularly review the plan to ensure it meets local needs and political goals, keeps investment proposals affordable, and maintains accurate assumptions. This helps ensure the HRA remains sustainable and viable throughout the 30-year period.

The Housing Revenue Account Budget and Medium Term

Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2025-26 to 2029-30 was approved by full council in February 2025. The MTFS broadly reflects the previous Business Plan strategies that were updated to reflect:

• Government Policy on rents for Social Housing
• increasing rents from by CPI (Consumer Price
• Inflation) plus 1% over the MTFS period;
  • The continuation of the Councils New Build programme;
  • Appropriate capital investment in maintaining the quality of the housing stock through planned maintenance and replacement works; and
  • Servicing and repaying debt so that new borrowing is available for future maintenance works or investment in further new build schemes.

The Business plan 2025-2055 reflects the current MTFS with a number of assumptions updated /revisited, these assumptions are detailed in Appendix 1 (page 38). This includes increasing the capital investment

for maintenance works on existing stock in line with stock condition survey results.

10.1 Resources 

The main source of income is from tenants’ rents and service charges. The financial plan assumes rent increases in line with social rent policy of CPI + 1% per annum up to the financial year 2030/31, and thereafter, increases are assumed at CPI only. This aligns with recent government consultation on rent policy, which proposes the continuation of the existing rent policy for five years from 2026/27 to 2030/31. The consultation also sought views on extending the policy for an additional five years. The result of the consultation is expected mid-year 2025. Any extension of the policy beyond 2030/31 will increase rental income available for reinvestment in existing stock or new homes.

The dwellings rent budget also allows for increased rental income from new build properties currently in the programme and reductions in rental income from RTB sales and voids.

Other resources are used to fund the council’s HRA capital programme are as follows: 

10.2 Major Repairs Reserve

The Major Repairs Reserve (MRR) is the main source of capital funding and the mechanism by which timing differences between resources becoming available and being applied are managed. The MRR may be used to fund capital expenditure and to repay existing debt. Depreciation is a real charge on the HRA and is paid into the MRR from the Housing Revenue Account to fund capital expenditure. The total support to the capital programme over the five- year MTFS 2025-26 to 2029-30 through depreciation is £28.5 million.

10.3     Capital Receipts

HRA capital receipts are mainly from Right-to-Buy (RTB) sales and shared ownership sales, which are utilised to finance the HRA New Build Programme. The retention and use of these receipts fall within the Government’s pooling regime. Over the past year, there have been several government changes relating to Right to Buy receipts, the main changes are:

• Councils can now retain 100% of their RTB receipt.
• The maximum RTB cash discounts have been reduced to pre-2012 levels, for Wealden the maximum RTB discount reduced to £38,000 from £102,400.

The reduction in RTB discounts for applications made from 21 November 2024 led to an increase in applications prior to this date. However, it is anticipated that future RTB sales will be at a much lower level than previously, with an average of 3 per annum assumed in the MTFS and 30-year financial plan from 2026/27.

New Build Shared ownership sales receipts are used towards funding the New Build shared ownership housing. The New Build programme is primarily funded by retained RTB receipts, shared ownership receipts and borrowing.

The proceeds of dwelling sales under the RTB scheme has provided a regular source of capital receipts. The current MTFS and Business Plan includes the use of these capital receipts and borrowing over the MTFS period.

10.4 Council Resources

The MTFS 2025-26 to 2029-30 includes £0.100 million of direct revenue contributions over the five year period, which was available to support the planned maintenance programme.

There is also £0.820 million transferred from an earmarked reserve to be used in 2025/26 toward financing the decarbonation programme. This reserve has now been fully utilised.

10.5 Borrowing

The Prudential Code, a framework for borrowing for local authorities, allows the Council to undertake borrowing if it can demonstrate that such borrowing is affordable, sustainable, and prudent, as outlined in its Prudential Indicators detailed in the Capital Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy.

In October 2018, the government announced the removal of the HRA borrowing cap, providing councils with greater flexibility to borrow. At that time, the council set its own local indicator with a prudential limit for the HRA of £95 million, which has remained unchanged. However, it is proposed to remove the HRA limit of £95 million in the forthcoming Treasury Management Strategy. Instead, prudential indicators within the prudential framework and Capital Strategy will be used to measure borrowing affordability. As with all borrowing decisions, the council will still need to consider the affordability of borrowing against available revenue streams.

This Business Plan update shows an increased HRA Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) over the next 30 years, rising to £96.5 million during the current MTFS 5-year period and peaking at £108 million by year 30. The Business Plan demonstrates that there is sufficient income over this period to service the debt.

The chart below illustrates the forecasted debt servicing, interest rate cover, and debt profile over the period from 2025/26 to 2054/55. The debt servicing line shows a gradual increase, reflecting the Council’s chosen alignment with the repayment obligations of the debt taken out. The interest rate cover line indicates a steady upward trend, demonstrating the Council’s ability to meet interest payments. The debt profile remains relatively stable, peaking at £108 million in 2054/55.

The Council has currently has £53 million of external debt through the Publics Works Loans Board (PWLB), relating to housing stock which is being repaid over 30-years. In addition to this, the Council has undertaken further internal borrowing of £32 million as at 2024-25. The provision to repay debt over the 30 years is period is £65 million with further borrowing of £88 million to fund the HRA Capital Programme. The level of debt peaks in 2054/55 at £108 million.

For new housing investment opportunities, we will only undertake new borrowing if it can be demonstrated that this will be fully repaid through the net rental income streams from these developments. Additionally, our interest cover ratio is above the standard rate of 1.25, ensuring robust financial management.

To ensure our long-term financial goals and sustainability, we will actively review our debt portfolio and strategies, making necessary adjustments to align with our objectives.

10.6 Reserves

There is a requirement to maintain a HRA General Reserve Balance to safeguard against

unplanned and unavoidable increases in expenditure, such as legislative or government policy pressures or losses of income. It is recommended as good practice to maintain HRA balances at a minimum of 5% of revenue. For Wealden this equates to approximately £1.1 million for the financial year 2025/26. When setting the HRA MTFS and Business Plan the level of balances have been kept at 5% or above throughout the period.

Looking ahead, HRA reserves are projected to remain above the recommended minimum level, gradually increasing over time and reaching £17.2 million by year 30 of the plan. As these balances grow, future updates to both the Business Plan and the MTFS will incorporate the strategic use of reserves exceeding the minimum requirement. This may include addressing emerging cost pressures such as those arising from the New Decent Homes Standard, investing in new build housing development opportunities, and increasing expenditure on the decarbonisation of our housing stock. These priorities will be reviewed regularly to ensure that surplus reserves are used effectively to support long-term service delivery and housing quality.

There is a Retirement Living leaseholders’ major works sinking fund reserve with contributions from the leaseholders. This fund is designated for covering major works costs at the retirement living courts. The current balance is approximately £395,000. The HRA does not hold any other earmarked reserves.

The Major Repairs Reserve is fully utilised annually to fund the HRA Planned Maintenance Capital Programme.

The HRA Business Plan outlines the strategic approach to managing the Housing Revenue Account, emphasising the challenges of long-term forecasting in the current economic climate. It highlights the importance of careful management of short-term finances to ensure stability and responsiveness to unforeseen circumstances. As a living document, the plan is fully funded for the present but acknowledges the need for additional resources to address climate change initiatives and a review of debt management strategies. The risks and challenges of these are detailed in chapter 11.

11.1   Governance

In order to deliver this Business Plan, we will continue to engage with our tenants and leaseholders, consulting them wherever necessary and appropriate.

The HRA Business Plan is a living document which sets out our short, medium and long-term strategies for the management, maintenance, improvement and addition to the Council’s housing stock.

The plan will be reviewed and delivered by Senior Housing and Finance staff and future updates approved by the newly formed Wealden and Tenants Together Board, followed by Cabinet.

11.2 Delivering our Business Plan

Our service is divided into five sections; each service is overseen by a service lead who reports to the Head of Housing:

• Tenancy & Estates
• Property Services
• Housing Development
• Housing Options & Strategy
• Housing Policy & Partnerships

Property Services

Our Property Services Team are responsible for works to empty properties, energy efficiency works, and other improvement works, repairs, maintenance and adaptations to our properties and garages.

Tenancy & Estate

This team is responsible for tenancy management including anti-social behaviour, tackling tenancy fraud, enforcing tenancy conditions and estate services, as well as contracts for communal cleaning and grounds maintenance.

Housing Development

Our Housing Development Team are responsible for the building and purchase of new Council homes as well as working with housing associations to deliver affordable housing in the district (both social and affordable rent and shared ownership).

Housing Options & Strategy

This Team is responsible for providing housing advice and support for homelessness households and dealing with the allocation of social housing.

Housing Policy & Partnerships

This team is responsible for developing strategies and policies for the service and helping to ensure compliance with our obligations under the Housing Regulation and Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code. It also includes the Tenant Involvement Team – this team is responsible for working with tenants and leaseholders offering them a range of ways to get involved in developing, shaping, reviewing or improving our services or their neighbourhood. As well as Housing Systems who support the efficient running of the IT systems for the whole Housing Service.

12.1 New Consumer Standards – Including Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)

Since 1st April 2024 social landlords must meet the outcomes and specification expectations in the new consumer standards, which are now much more detailed and wider in their remit than ever before. It is clear that as a social landlord we must play a role in promoting economic, social and environmental wellbeing and must have specific policies and partnerships in place. We must also have great transparency and engagement with our tenants to ensure they can influence our service delivery and decision making. As a result, we are introducing a new Wealden and Tenants Together Housing Board to act as a strategic body that becomes part of our decision-making framework.

As part of the Consumer Standards is a requirement to collate and return to the Regulator annually, Tenant Satisfaction Measures for those landlords like us with 1,000 or more properties. This includes data from our IT systems as well as Tenant Perception Measures which means that we now need to undertake an annual survey with our tenants (not leaseholders due to our low numbers) and produce a report of the findings sharing with both the Regulator and our tenants.

Both of these changes put increased pressure on our staffing and financial resources.

12.2 Increased Regulation

The Regulator for Social Housing has increased powers because of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. Taking a risk-based approach to regulation; the higher they think the level of risk is, the greater their level of scrutiny and the stronger their interventions may be. The aim of this approach is to focus their resources where they are most needed, ensure their approach is proportionate and minimise interference in landlords’ activities. In addition, their view of the level of risk may also depend on other circumstances.

For example, the risk may be higher because of the number of tenants affected, or the vulnerability of affected tenants may put them at greater risk.

Regardless of this risk-based approach as a landlord with more than 1,000 homes, Wealden are considered a large landlord for regulation purposes. This means that aside from the continued risk-based assurance above, the Regulator will carry out inspections of our services against the outcomes of the standards, every four years. Following inspection, we will be issued with a regulatory judgement and a grading.

12.3 Housing Ombudsman

Since 1st April 2024 the Complaint Handling Code has become statutory meaning that we must comply with all elements completing, publishing and submitting a self- assessment against the code.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 sets out the respective roles of the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman Service and placed how they will work together on a statutory footing. As a result, the two bodies meet regularly and use the intelligence that each has as part of the Regulators risk-based approach to regulation.

The requirements also bring with them expectations about learning, feedback and transparency. With greater Councillor involvement and ownership.

12.4 Competence and Conduct Standard

The Grenfell investigation highlighted the conduct and professionalism of those senior Housing staff involved as a contributing factor. As a result, following a white and green paper the government consulted on the introduction of the Competence and Conduct Standard that would be regulated by the Regulator for Social Housing through powers set out in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.

The consultation sought to mandate qualifications for senior housing professionals in order to meet the required competency and conduct standards. It also proposed placing a requirement for landlords to have a policy in place setting out their approach to managing the skills, knowledge, experience and conduct of all their staff.

The housing sector is currently awaiting MHCLG direction to the Regulator and further consultation. However, based on what is proposed there are significant implications for us in terms of cost to gain qualifications or “top-up” existing qualifications to the required standard. There is a risk of losing those that hold other relevant qualifications for their roles such as surveyors but not housing qualifications unless exemptions are made.

12.5  Review of Decent Homes Standard

In the Social Housing White Paper published in November 2020 the government committed to review the Decent Homes Standard, and in their 2022 Levelling Up White Paper they went further, committing to halve the number of non-decent rented homes (both in the social and private sectors) by 2030. With the government intending to extend the Decent Homes Standard to cover the private rented sector for the first time.

The Decent Homes standard has been under review by Government since 2021 and in September 2024, the Labour government confirmed its intention to consult on a new Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors ‘as soon as possible’. Until this piece of work is completed, we currently do not have a timescale for we do not know the impact upon the Council. However, there is the potential for any changes to the Decent Homes Standard to have significant financial implications.

12.6 New model for Shared Ownership

The new model applies to any new build home funded with a government grant from the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 will require landlords to offer a new lower 10% minimum initial share and staircasing from 1% as well as a 10-year “repair-free” period. This new model will have significant implications for us when delivering shared ownership and we currently have our first shared ownership properties under this scheme on site.

12.7 Reduction in our Rental Stream

Since April 2020 the government rent policy for permitted annual increases of CPI  plus 1%. However, as a result of the sudden interest rate rise in 2023 to rates of 11-12%, government imposed a cap on rent increases of 7% for 2023/24, to mitigate financial hardship for tenants but at the same time, recognising social landlords’ income must be sustained and the costs of maintaining homes had increased due to higher interest rates and inflationary costs. The current Government rent policy for 2025/26 is for CPI plus 1% increases for a further 5 years to 2030/31. This may be extended up to 10 years. The current business plan prudently assumes the rent policy to continue for a further 5 years to 2030/31, then increases by CPI only. Therefore, there is uncertainty of future rent policy beyond 5 years and the risk of any further decisions from central government to either reduce rents or limit increases below inflation will have a detrimental impact on our anticipated income to deliver this plan.

12.8 Right to Buy

In October 2024 the government announced reforms to the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme with the aim to balance the benefits of home ownership with the need to maintain and expand social housing stock. One of the changes to the scheme was a reduction of the maximum RTB cash discounts to pre-2012 levels, for Wealden the maximum RTB discount reduced to £38,000 from £102,400. This led to a temporary increase in applications for RTB in the run up to the November deadline. The government consultation on RTB reforms closed in January 2025 with the outcome expected during this year.

The reduction in RTB sales will mean that the council will not lose as many homes and ongoing rental income in future years, however there will be fewer receipts to utilise toward the council’s new build investment programme. 

12.9 Reduction in Interest Rate

The HRA’s loan portfolio consists of fixed-rate external loans and internal variable loans. New borrowing requirements will be exposed to interest rate changes, posing a risk to the Business Plan. However, the council’s finance team, along with external treasury advisers, plays a crucial role in managing the HRA’s exposure to interest rate fluctuations and mitigating the associated risks.

13.1 Performance

Performance against our Business Plan will be reported back to tenants and leaseholders through our annual report. We will report back to other stakeholders and Members through quarterly performance reports.

Our finances are kept under constant review with regards to the current operating environment and reported back to our Members annually.

13.2  Review

Given the ever-changing and uncertain environment in which local authorities operate, this plan is intended to be a ‘living’ document, subject to regular review and amendment as needed. Each year, the council will update its 5-year HRA Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to incorporate the latest assumptions for managing and maintaining our housing stock and new developments. These updates will align with the strategies outlined in this business plan. Concurrently, the business plan’s financial model will be revised to reflect the updated MTFS, ensuring the long-term financial stability and health of the HRA.

Our financial plan shows how we will fund our council housing investment priorities and day-to-day council housing services. The financial plan is based on key assumptions to help us mitigate risks or changes that may occur in the coming year. All of these assumptions are reviewed and refreshed each year to reflect the changing economic environment in which the business plan operates.

The key financial assumptions are set out in the table below.