Councils have welcomed chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to extend preferential Public Works Loan Board borrowing rates for Housing Revenue Account (HRA) expenditure.
The Government said HRA rates would be 0.4% above gilts rather than the standard 0.8% figure until June 2025 – an extension of a year.
Treasury documents indicated the extension would be worth just £5m, but the Government’s analysis added: ‘This supports local authorities borrowing for HRAs, and could provide savings and additional investment in social housing of as much as £150m over the life of the borrowing.’
It comes after senior DLUHC officials lobbied the Treasury to get PWLB rates down after recognising that it was impacting council housebuilding.
The Local Government Association said the extension would provide ‘much-needed additional support for vital council housebuilding projects’.
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
