Fears over Blackpool's finances as government Covid funding slashed

The £3.8m allocation falls short of the £6m received in the first round of Covid-19 funding, and brings the total support for providing additional frontline services to just under £10m.

The council, which has had to dig into its reserves to meet costs, had hoped to receive another £6m after Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced a further £1.6bn in funding to support local authorities.

But different criteria has been used to calculate the individual allocations, revealed this week, with more cash going to district councils this time round.

Blackpool Council leader Coun Simon Blackburn said: “I think it is fair to say that the new method of allocating funding to councils has come as a great shock to an already strained system.

“The Secretary of State has publicly and repeatedly told councils to “spend whatever needs to be spent” to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, and we’ve kept his officials fully informed about how much we’ve spent thus far, over £21m.

“So to see our allocation cut from £6m to £3.8m left us flabbergasted.”

Figures released in a report going before a ‘virtual’ meeting of the council on May 11 say the cost of coronavirus is forecast to be £21.3m in 2020/21 including nearly £12.9m of additional spending, mainly on adult social services to pay for care.

The rest is potential loss of income of £8.4m including commercial income from council-owned companies, which include Blackpool Transport and the Sandcastle Water Park.

It also includes loss of income from council leisure centres which closed in March. During March and April £188,000 is forecast to be lost in repaid gym membership fees, and £177,000 lost as sports facilities are no longer hired out.

Closing some car parks and falling demand has led to an expected slump in parking revenue of nearly £1m in March and April.

Coun Blackburn added: “Officials in Whitehall keep reassuring us that council tax-payers won’t be left out of pocket at the end of all this, but I’m very nervous that we’ve so far had less than half of our spending repaid by government.

“I will continue to seek reassurances about this from Ministers and civil servants, with the support of our MPs.”

Coun Tony Williams, leader of the Conservatives on Blackpool Council, said Blackpool had received a more generous handout in the first round of funding than other similar sized authorities.

But a new formula meant the second payment was based on the number of residents living in the town.

He added: “These are staggered payments and until a thorough and audited assessment has been made of the council’s additional spending, the final cost to the council is unknown.

“The government has pledged to reimburse local authorities for this additional cost and fortunately we have two Conservative MP’s in the town to help us make sure that promise is kept.

“I share Coun Blackburn’s concerns and echo his calls to ensure we receive the full allocation.”

In a letter to local authorities, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick says he has “made a commitment to support all authorities with the additional cost pressures from the extra work and the specific tasks we have asked you to carry out as a result of the epidemic, in particular, in relation to social care.”

He added the package of financial support “demonstrates our strong commitment to local government.”