South Holland District Council spends more on temporary accommodation

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Members were told the costs of providing temporary accommodation have risen significantly and if the costs continue at this rate, the forecast overspend at the end of the year will be £560,000.

Portfolio holder for Finance, Coun Peter Coupland told the meeting that there has been significant variation in this cost.

Coun Copeland said: "The finance team are doing their hardest to mitigate a lot of costs."

The council has also generated a loss of income from planning applications. The income was budgeted to be £1.07m but is forecast to be £0.77m for the year.

At the meeting Coun Bryan Alcock said: "It seems to me, particularly on planning, that we ought to have anticipated that applications would fall off the cliff once the local plan had been adopted."

He also asked about a £38,000 overspend on the community development budget due to business rates being charged on the dryside of the leisure centre.

The budget was based on an 80 per cent charity exemption on the business rates but officers are working with the provider on resolving this.

Up to £500 reward scheme introduced for staff

Staff who work beyond their expected job role will now be rewarded with additional money.

Councillors have agreed to give one-off payments of between £100 and £500 to staff members who undertake “a project or piece of work beyond that expected of the job role”.

Governance and Customer Service Porfolio Holder Coun Tracey Carter said: “This will help to reward staff more easily.”

The council has had an honorarium policy for a number of years but it has not been updated since June 2008 and does not reflect current HR practices.

Under the policy, which also needs to be signed off by unions, managers and team leaders must submit nominations of staff members which will be decided by Executive Managers or Chief Officers.

Circumstances in which the payment will be made are: when staff members have performed duties “beyond the scope of their own position without the benefit of other reward of remuneration”; where a staff member has undertaken particularly onerous duties in addition to their normal role; and where duties have resulted in a clear benefit to the council.

Staff would receive the payment within their normal monthly salary for the months of October or March.

Earlier in the meeting, Coun Angela Newton asked for staff members to be praised for their work in the bad weather.

She said: “As a council, I think we should record our thanks to the staff working outside, including the refuse collectors, who have performed pretty well under adverse weather conditions.

“I believe we should thank our drainage board for all they have done to make sure we are not suffering as other areas are suffering.”