Local Government: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th May 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 plans his Department has to compensate local authorities for loss of revenue from rents during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Simon Clarke Portrait
Simon Clarke
This question was answered on 18th May 2020

The Government is aware of the impact on local authorities’ financial position as a result of Covid-19. We are collecting monitoring data on a monthly basis on income and expenditure. We will share a summary of the returns in due course. I would like to encourage local authorities to keep engaging with us through the second round of returns, which will provide valuable data about what is happening on the front-line.

On 28 April the Local Government Secretary announced allocations to individual local authorities of the additional £1.6 billion of funding to support councils in delivering essential front line services, that was announced on 18 April. The grant has been paid as an un-ringfenced amount, recognising local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the additional Covid-19 service pressures in their area. This funding is in addition to the £1.6 billion announced on 19 March.

The Government has made a commitment to support all authorities with the additional cost pressures from the extra work and the specific tasks we have asked them to carry out as a result of the pandemic, including in relation to social care – both adult and children’s, public health services, shielding the most vulnerable, homelessness and rough sleeping, supporting the NHS and managing excess deaths.

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