Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached.

This report provides a further update summary of the current situation in the city in relation to COVID-19 and an update on the work progressing in Manchester in relation to areas within the remit of this committee.

Further to Minute RGSC/20/26 (Update on activity under COVID 19), the Committee considered a considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which provided a further update of the current situation in the city in relation to COVID-19 and an update on the work progressing in Manchester in relation to areas within the remit of the Committee.

 The main points and themes within the report included: -

·                An update on the phased physical return to work of Council staff and what future ways of working would potentially look like;

·                Details of the progress and re-scoping of the Our Transformation strategy to ensure it supported the delivery of wider future Council objectives;

·                The programme of work underway within ICT  to support the new ways of working including infrastructure and capacity, end user device and telephony; and

·                An updated position of the impact of COVID-19 on the Council’s finances and budget.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·                In terms of Our Ways of Working, how far along was the Council in determining numbers of staff who would continue working from home;

·                Was the roll out of new ICT equipment and the move to Microsoft 365 still going ahead as planned and within the planned timeframe;

·                It was asked whether there was any clarity on the methodology used for the second tranche of government funding;

·                Further information was requested on the anticipated funding that the Council was hoping to receive to deliver the “shovel ready” schemes within the recovery plan of the Capital Programme;

·                What projection did the Council have as to the percentage of pre-COVID19 Business Rates collection it was hoping to achieve;

·                Members welcomed the trial by Money Advice Pension Service on the availability of independent debt advice and commented that they would like to support the publicising of this;

·                Was there information that could be shared with Members on a breakdown of the nature of businesses that had received Business Rate support and where these businesses were located in the city;

·                Was there any information on the take up of additional grants for Nurseries;

·                Was there any estimate on the proportion of businesses that had still not applied for Business Rates support;

·                Were any assessments being undertaken on the number of people over the next two years that would have difficulty paying their Council Tax and what impact this would have on Council finances;

·                It was suggested that information on Council Tax support and debt advice was also shared with organisations such as the Citizen’s Advice Bureau to ensure consistent advice was given; and

·                Had any communications in community languages been undertaken in regards to Council Tax support.

The Leader advised that the recent staff survey picked up on the fact that the majority of staff who were currently working from home were happy to continue to do so for the time being, but it had been identified that staff’s health and wellbeing had been impacted upon since working from home.  It was anticipated that going forward there would be flexible working arrangements for staff to enable them to work part of the week at home and part of the week physically in work.  In terms of the move to Microsoft 365, the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer commented that the move was still going ahead and was currently being tested within ICT before being rolled out to other service areas.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer explained that the methodology being used for the second tranche of funding was on a per capita basis.  For the recently received third tranche the method used to determine the level of additional government funding took into account population, deprivation and some elements of the foundation formula.  Government had shared the full formula with the Council and it had been reassuring to see that deprivation was a driver of spend.

The Leader commented that £52 million of funding had been received for a number of Combined Authority schemes, two of which were located in Manchester, which totalled £31 million.

The Deputy City Treasurer advised that the Council was currently forecasting that Business Rates collections were approximately 19% down on pre-COVID19 figures although due to deferrals early in the year it was difficult to draw any conclusion from this and this position was improving each month. For the overall financial year the Council was forecasting a 10% reduction in the collection of Business Rates which equated to around £23.6million.  She also advised that a breakdown of the nature of the businesses that have been supported with their Business Rates on a constituency level could be provided to Members.

The Director of Customer Services and Transactions advised that in terms of Nurseries, the Council was able to pay full relief to non-Manchester nurseries or where the Council didn’t pay their business rates, which equated to approx. 91 nurseries and equated to just over £1million.  There was also another group of nurseries that had a rateable value below £15,000 that were able to claim a grant of £10,000 and then for those nurseries that didn’t qualify for this grant, 10 nurseries were able to claim £5,000 through the discretionary scheme.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer commented that the Council had been working hard to get in touch with all businesses to make them aware of the Business Rate grant support available to them and advised that payment rates were at approximately 90%.

In terms of Council Tax and Council Tax support it was reported that the Council was looking at these arrangements, which included the smoothing of the Council Tax deficit over three years and some form of risk share on the collection fund position, but was awaiting the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review before any final decisions could be made.  It was acknowledged that there would be an increase in the demand for Council Tax support in future years due to the impact of COVID19.  Furthermore, the Deputy City Treasurer highlighted that the Council was currently anticipating a 6% shortfall in Council Tax collection.  This, plus the full year effect of the Council Tax Support Scheme and increases in bad debt provision was resulting in the Council looking at a potential shortfall of £20million in Council Tax collection.

Decisions

The Committee:-

(1)       Notes the update.

(2)       Requests that a breakdown of the nature of the businesses that have        been supported with their Business Rates on a constituency level be provided to Members.