The government has confirmed allocations for individual councils in England from the £500 million of additional support for Coronavirus-related spending pressures. This further injection sees a total of £4.3 billion in direct funding to councils to help with issues caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. The money is being distributed to councils based on population and levels of deprivation, and how the costs of delivery of services varies across the country.
The government has also announced a co-payment scheme that will compensate councils for irrecoverable income losses from sales, fees and charges such as from parking and from heritage services. They will be expected to absorb the initial 5% of losses compared to planned income from these sources. Thereafter, there will be a cost splitting arrangement where 75p in every pound of relevant losses will be compensated for by the government. The scheme does not cover lost commercial rent income.
Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:
'Councils are playing a vital role in our national fight against Coronavirus, providing a lifeline for so many and supporting communities at a time when they need it most. That’s why we are giving them an extra £500 million – taking our total additional funding provided to £4.3 billion – and today I am setting out how this will be allocated to councils fairly based on the pressures they have told us they are facing. This comes on top of the co-payment scheme announced last week that will compensate councils for irrecoverable income losses from sales, fees and charges.'
