Investigation reveals possible £24m council housing wrongful spend

Another £24m of Nottingham council housing rents could have been wrongly spent, an investigation has found.

Last year Nottingham City Council issued a legal notice after nearly £16m of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) funds was unlawfully spent.

A probe into the authority and Nottingham City Homes found more could have been improperly used.

The council said it would meet this week to consider bringing Nottingham City Homes in-house.

A government-appointed inspector has already been appointed in response to the authority's financial woes, including the collapse of Robin Hood Energy.

HRA funding involves income from council tenants' rent and can only be used for repairs and other housing matters.

When it emerged last year some of it had been incorrectly credited to the general fund for all council services, the leader of the Labour-run council said he was "mystified".

Following the latest discovery, David Mellen said: "This is a clearly a setback, particularly as the council has been making significant progress on improving our financial governance over the last year.

"I would like to reassure our council tenants that we are committed to dealing with these past issues, ensuring that lessons are learnt so that these mistakes cannot be repeated in future."

The council said it intended to replace the lost money from its reserves, but concerns have been raised by opposition leaders there is not enough to replace the amount lost.

Kevin Clarke, from Nottingham Independents, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the situation with Nottingham City Homes "beggars belief", adding tenants are suffering from rising rents and delayed repairs.

"It has got to the point where it is not fit for purpose," he said.

"You have got to ask the question: what else is going to come out?"

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