New schemes and Future Years Variations to be added to the Capital Programme for 2023/24 to be Approved

New Capital Project Approval Request
Directorate:	Housing, Neighbourhood & Communities
Unit:	Housing GF
Project Title:	Housing Needs IT System Replacement Project
Total Project Cost (All Years) £:	£270,800
Purpose, Benefits & Risks:
Purpose: To review the Housing Needs IT requirements and procure and implement a system that best meets the needs of the service, withdrawing from the Sussex Homemove partnership. Benefits: To improve business processing and therefore user experience for both staff and customers.  To establish a robust support service for the Housing Needs system including dedicated training, system admin support and contract management. Withdrawing from Sussex Homemove partnership will enable the service to have better control over its system and implement improvements more quickly and effectively for the benefit of staff and customers. Risks: There may be increased support requirements depending on the new software provider. The costs may increase as they are no longer divided between 4 partners. A separate project to separate our data from our Homemove partners may increase the procurement process and therefore costs of the project.
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Capital Expenditure Profile (£’000):
Funding Source (see guidance below)	2023/24	2024/25	2025/26	2026/27	2027/28	Total All Years
Modernisation Funding - Capital Receipts	75,000	141,800				216,800
Direct Revenue Funding / Reserves		54,000				54,000
Total Estimated Costs & Fees	75,000	195,800				270,800
Financial Implications:
This new system is being procured in order to update the current system and to streamline current processes as part of the wider homelessness transformation programme. The business case evidences that this new system will enable productivity gains in relation to the housing needs service and enable budget savings to be met. However, as highlighted above, there is a risk that ending the partnership may add costs for the council going forward. In this event, the Housing Service would have to manage any extra costs of this within its budget, utilising the efficiencies gained under the new system. In July 2023, Modernisation Fund support of £216,800 was approved with the balance to be met from departmental funding. Further potential funding for future years investment estimated at circa £300,000 will need to be considered as part of the council’s ongoing modernisation programme and will be required to be approved by this committee at a later date.