West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2026/27 Consultation - Group Facilitator’s Feedback Form

Closes 3 Feb 2026

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Draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget 2026 to 2027 and Medium Term Financial Plan

Local housing authorities are required by law to keep a Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

This HRA holds the budgets for the Council’s housing provision, identifying the major elements of expenditure and how these are funded, mainly from rents. Any money that enters the HRA, can only be spent on maintaining and improving social housing, including building new homes.

The Council has a housing stock which is managed by its arms-length management organisation, Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH).

Read more about the Housing Revenue Account

There are strict rules surrounding the costs and income that can be charged to the HRA. Much of the income and expenditure is dictated by legislation and regulation leaving the Council with limited direct control over a number of these budgets.

The Rent Standard 2023 is a national policy that ordinarily allows annual rent increases, on both social rent and affordable rent properties, of up to the rate of inflation (Consumer Price Index - CPI) plus 1%. The CPI in September 2025 was 3.8%.

The proposals

There are plans to invest £78.6m in social housing during the next financial year, which forms part of a total five-year capital programme amounting to £359.6m.

The investment in 2026 to 2027 includes:     

  • £12.8m on external improvements,                              
  • £6.9m on internal improvements,                                         
  • £7.34m on structural works and safety compliance, including Estate Shops,
  • £8.3m on energy efficiency, heating and ventilation, and window upgrades,
  • £2.3m on adaptations (for disabilities),
  • £37.4m on new build programmes and major projects,
  • £3.6m on buying back social housing and acquiring suitable properties, including some IT development (£0.4m).

The Council are proposing to increase rent from 1 April 2026 by 4.8%, on average across the Council’s housing stock in line with national government policy.

This will raise the average rent from £114.80 to £120.31 per week, which is an increase of £5.51 per week. This increase will help to manage the increasing costs that are also being experienced in this area. 

The Council are also proposing an increase of 4.8% for tenant and leaseholder service charges, and to increase garage and commuter surcharges by 4.8%. This will increase the average rent per garage from £12.12 to £12.70, and the commuter surcharge from £19.26 to £20.19 per week.

 

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposal to increase rent by 4.8% (an average increase of £5.51 per week) across the Council’s housing stock managed by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH)?
Use the following space if you would like to tell us why you answered the previous question in the way that you did:
If you think this proposal might have a negative effect, please use the space below to explain what that effect could be and suggest ways to avoid it:
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposal to increase garage rents by 4.8% (an increase of £0.58 per week)?
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposal to increase general service charges by 4.8%?
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the planned investment of £78.6m for social housing during 2026 to 2027?
Use the following space should you have any further comments on the HRA Capital programme:
If you have any other comments you would like to make about the details within the Draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget report and its appendices, that you have not already told us, then please tell us here:

Thank you for your feedback, once you select Continue below, you will be taken back to the Contents page where you have the option to make further comments on other proposals if you want to.

If you do not wish to comment on other proposals, please scroll to the bottom of the Contents page and select Finish.