Rotherham Council to receive £1.6 million less in second wave of coronavirus funding

The government announced in March that councils would receive a share of £1.6 billion to help them respond to coronavirus pressures across all the services they deliver, of which Rotherham Council were allocated £8.9 million.

A second funding boost of £1.6 billion was announced in April, of which Rotherham is set to receive £7.3 million - a total of £16.2 million.

However, Councillor Chris Read, leader of the council, says a 'toxic' combination of increased costs and high demands on services could affect vulnerable residents.

Coun Read added: "It is absolutely critical that the government continues to provide additional funding to all councils in order to keep services alive and we have been clear in our communications with government about this.

"Whilst it is obviously disappointing to us that the second tranche of government money we received was smaller than the first, the key thing now is that councils need more funding across the board and the government must not walk away.

"Pitting one council or part of the country against another just makes it more likely that some local authorities somewhere will go bust, and the most vulnerable residents in those areas will be the ones who are worst affected if and when that happens."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to The Star website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit https://www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.