Another Housing Revenue Account Overspend Revealed at GBC

Published on: 21 Jul, 2025
Updated on: 23 Jul, 2025

By Emily Dalton local democracy reporter and Martin Giles

Guildford Borough Council has discovered another overspend of a housing maintenance contract.

Already facing serious financial challenges, a new report reveals the council has already spent £4.1 million on a fire door replacement scheme – far above the original £2.5 million contract estimate. Now a further £1.6 million is needed to complete the project, bringing the total to £6.5 million.

The overspend, from the ring-fenced and well-funded Housing Revenue Account, follows earlier revelations of overspends against housing maintenance contracts, said at one stage to total £19 million. The matter is still being investigated by the police although any fraud is thought to be associated with a far smaller sums.

See: HRA Report Shows Overspend and Possible Fraud Occurred Despite Many Warnings

The overspend seems to have stemmed from a failure to properly assess the scale of the work needed before signing the contract in 2022, according to the report. Assumptions from incomplete data left officers underestimating how many fire doors needed replacing in Guildford Borough Council’s housing stock.

Cllr Catherine Houston

Councillors at Thursday’s (July 17) GBC Executive Committee meeting tried to remain positive. Cllr Catherine Houston referenced the importance of being a dutiful landlord to residents.

She said: “Regardless of [the overspend] I think it is wonderful that, in the light of Grenfell, we are taking real care, making sure our residents are safe, particularly against fire.”

Cllr Julia McShane

Leader of the council, Cllr Julia McShane labelled the unexpected cost as a “slight overspend” but reassured the executive how important fire safety is. She added the new contact also acquired the doors at the same price as in 2022 making a “saving”.

Cllr Tom Hunt

Cllr Tom Hunt described it as a “learning experience”. While Pedro Wrobel, Joint Chief Executive of the council, said: “Whilst it is frustrating we did not catch this before breaching the budget, at the very least we caught it very shortly afterwards.

“We are once again looking at our controls, not just in housing but across the piece, to make sure we have as firm a grip as possible on this.”

Pedro Wrobel, CEO

The form of contract allowed work to be ordered when needed rather than fixed in advance, meaning the true cost ballooned as the council discovered more non-compliant doors. Additional blocks and fire safety improvements were added mid-way through the project.

Despite the overspend, no extra funding is being asked for at this stage. Instead, officers sought retrospective approval from the Executive for the budget overrun and say the costs will be covered from elsewhere in the capital programme.

Officers emphasised the overspend is from the council’s estimated budget costs, rather than with the contractor itself.

Officers told the executive the overspend happened for a variety of reasons and council bosses are now reviewing the mistakes and will put in place measures to stop it happening again.

Guildford council’s fire safety efforts follow a self-referral to the Regulator of social housing in 2023. After the authority admitted it was not fully compliant with building safety standards, the regulator issued a C3 rating, flagging serious weaknesses in the council’s oversight of its housing stock.