Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support the Government is providing to (a) Stoke-on-Trent City Council, (b) Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and (c) Staffordshire County Council to mitigate a reduction of income due to covid-19.

The Government is providing significant support to local councils to assist with income reductions as a result of COVID-19. We have already made £528 million of payments under this year’s Sales, Fees and Charges Scheme, from which Stoke-on-Trent City Council (£3.5 million), Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (£0.55 million) and Staffordshire County Council (£0.94 million) have all benefited, and we have now extended the scheme into the first three months of 2021-22.

To further support local councils with income losses, we are allowing councils to phase repayment of local tax collection fund deficits arising in 2020-21 over three years; we are committing to meet 75 per cent of councils’ irrecoverable losses in council tax and business rates income for 2020-21, worth an estimated £800 million; and we are providing authorities with £670 million of new grant funding to support council tax income, by enabling councils to continue reducing bills in 2021-22 for households least able to pay.

We will continue to monitor the effect of COVID-19 on local councils and would ask that any local authority that is faced with an unmanageable pressure or is concerned about their future financial position should approach MHCLG for a discussion.