Council leader shares concerns over coronavirus funding gap

As well as an anticipated loss of £24 million in income from council tax, business rates and other fees, the cost to maintain the council's critical services is about £14m more than funding received from the government.

At a virtual cabinet meeting, Coun Sir Stephen Houghton, council leader, shared concerns about the council's funding.

He said it is important the government comes up with further funding to support local authorities.

A report to the cabinet said: “While central government has provided some financial support, it’s considered this funding will be inadequate to cover the full cost of the pandemic and ongoing recovery.

“The estimated costs of maintaining our own critical services is some £14m more than the funding we’ve received.

“Even more concerning is the anticipated loss of £24m in income from council tax, business rates and other fees and charges.

“While we’ll continue to lobby government for additional funding, in the meantime, we have put in place a moratorium to protect our financial standing should additional government support not be enough to cover the full cost of the pandemic.”

Addressing the cabinet, Coun Houghton said: “There has been government grants to support us in that process, grants for businesses, for the council to cover some increased costs, but I have to say, the expenditure of the council has gone up significantly in response to the coronavirus challenges, particularly around social care.

“The council has lost and continues to lose a substantial amount of income which is creating a significant budget challenge for us at the end of the year.

“That applies to all local authorities. As challenging as this is, and it will mean some significant changes to some of the things that we were proposing to do in future, we are well placed to try and manage that.

“It is important that the government comes up with further monies to support local authorities, including Barnsley, against the recovery process in due course.”