District Councils: Coronavirus

(asked on 13th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) the District Councils’ Network on the Government’s plan to tackle the financial challenges faced by district councils as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Simon Clarke Portrait
Simon Clarke
This question was answered on 16th July 2020

On 2 July the Secretary of State announced a further £500 million in unringfenced grant funding for councils to meet pressures they are facing in response to the coronavirus pandemic. This unprecedented package of support includes £4.3 billion of support for councils’ spending pressures, comprising £3.7 billion of unringfenced grants and the £600 million Infection Control Fund, bringing the total amount of additional support for councils, businesses and local communities to almost £28 billion.

The Government is also meeting 75p in the pound of lost income such as parking fees and museum entry charges, where that loss of income is more than a council could have been expected to plan for. For many councils, this will be a significant portion of the income lost as a result of the pandemic, particularly where these income streams make up a disproportionate portion of income relative to the size of the authority.

I have heard from many district councils, and the District Councils’ Network, and can offer the reassurance?that our aim is that all councils will be funded for their Covid-19 pressures and placed on a stable financial footing.

Across all three tranches of funding, 86 per cent of Districts have received more than £1 million in support. Individual allocations of the latest £500 million can be found on the Gov.uk website.

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