Skip to content

Nottingham Labour

Letter from Cllr Sam Webster to Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP re Funding for Local Authorities

Dear Minister

We welcome your recent announcement of a second round of funding totalling £1.6bn for local authorities,

This, along with the initial £1.6bn allocation (of which Nottingham City Council received £10.67m), will go some way towards mitigating the serious and significant impact we are experiencing on our finances as a result of Covid-19.

However, we are very concerned to hear speculation that the methodology for allocation of this second round of funding may be changed from that used in the first.

The consequence of this could be that Nottingham City Council would receive a smaller share of the overall pot and would therefore be denied vital funding to help us deal with the financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As you will know, these extra costs are significant in in many council service areas like homelessness support, adult social care, food parcel distribution and support for people coming out of hospital.

Specifically, in our recent return to Government, we highlighted the following additional costs to the Council:

  • £9.2m needed for Adult Social Care including PPE equipment
  • £2.7m needed for Children’s Social Care
  • £13.4m lost income from Council activities

Overall, we identified £56.4m direct and indirect pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is only our initial estimate and will inevitably increase as multiple pressures continue to impact the Council’s finances.

Our immediate focus has been on making sure residents and businesses are supported through this crisis period and making sure that vitally important front line council services continue to function safely. We want to able to continue to do that to the best of our ability but we need Government to stand shoulder to shoulder with us and recognise the financial consequences we are experiencing.

I would be very grateful therefore, if you would confirm that Nottingham City Council will not see a reduction in its second round share of the £1.6bn and that the methodology for distributing this funding will be unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
Councillor Sam Webster
Portfolio Holder for Finance, Growth and the City Centre