Lucy Allan MP has welcomed new figures showing that local authorities across the West Midlands will receive an extra £859 million to support vital local services during the Covid-19 pandemic, with further funding confirmed for next year. Over half of this new funding has not been ringfenced, meaning local leaders can decide how to use the additional funds and which local services to boost investment to.
Telford & Wrekin Council also received £22.5 million of Covid-19 funding in 2020, including through special ringfenced funds designed to ensure funding can be directed to where it is needed most, including the £1m Rough Sleepers Fund and the £600k Winter Grant Fund for struggling families.
Furthermore, the Government has provided £30 million for local Telford businesses, supporting 2,500 businesses in Telford. Telford also received an extra £1 million of ‘accelerated funding’ earlier in the year as an additional part of the £25m Towns Fund for which Telford has submitted a bid.
Local authorities have also received over £2 billion in further grant funding since March last year to deliver specific schemes, such as providing emergency support for rough sleepers, preventing children going hungry, setting up local test and trace services and measures to make care homes, high streets and town centres Covid-secure.
In total, the Government has provided local authorities across England with more than £7 billion in additional support and introduced a range of measures to help council’s manage pressures on their finances created by the pandemic, worth billions more. A further £3 billion will be allocated to councils from April onwards.
Telford MP, Lucy Allan, said:
“Councils across the West Midlands have done an incredible job providing local services and keeping people safe under the most difficult of circumstances, but I recognise the financial pressures they have faced."
"In particular the staff and officers at Telford and Wrekin Council have been extremely helpful to residents, and have ensured that this funding is distributed efficiently under these challenging circumstances."
“Government funding has helped to protect vital services in Telford and ensure our Council has the resources it needs to support our community."
Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP, said:
“From the start of the pandemic, we committed to ensuring that councils had the resources they needed to step up and support their communities.
“That commitment remains undimmed, which is why we have provided councils with more than £7 billion of additional funding for Covid-19 expenditure, and will continue to ensure they have the resources they need to provide vital local services and held their communities build back better from the pandemic.”
You can read more about Government funding for local authorities here.
