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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what formula the Government used to determine the additional funding for local authorities during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises the impacts that Covid-19 is having on the sector’s finances and capacity. That is why, on 18 April, we announced a further £1.6 billion to support councils in delivering essential front line services. This funding recognises the additional costs and pressures which councils are facing as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

This package of support takes the total given to councils to help their communities through this crisis to over £3.2 billion, an unprecedented level of additional financial?support in recent times. It means councils will be able to continue to support the most vulnerable people during the pandemic, deal with immediate pressures and provide additional support across a range of vital services.

We recognise that this continues to be an uncertain picture and we are working closely with local government and the LGA to ensure we have a collective understanding of the costs they are facing. Allocations to individual local authorities will follow as soon as practicable.