Sheffield Council Leader pleads with Government for more Tier 3 support

Coun Dore said the four council leaders and Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis asked for "significantly greater financial support" than the £41m handed out by Government and said the standard package given would not be enough.

She said: “We asked for a funding package that would allow us to compensate for the failure of the national scheme the government has put forward.

"We asked for significantly greater financial support in addition to the national schemes. Whilst the government are providing extra funding, they are giving South Yorkshire a standard package of support which they are providing to the areas going into Tier 3. This will not allow us to provide the support for people that is needed.

"We will continue to push the government to provide enough support for people and businesses as these measures will have such serious consequences for the people most impacted.

"It is not too late to do the right thing to support people in South Yorkshire and I would plead with the government to increase the levels of support they are providing for Tier 3."

Coun Dore said people should be given the same level of support as they were in the national lockdown to help them get through these "incredibly challenging times".

"Due to the continued high level of cases across the region and increasingly concerning levels of hospital admission, it is necessary to raise the alert level to very high.

“We agree that more needs to be done to tackle the growth of the virus, we are seeing cases rise all across the country. In Sheffield and South Yorkshire there is a growing and extremely concerning number of people in ICU beds and doing nothing is clearly not an option.

“As these restrictions are imposed, people must be properly supported when their place of work is closed down and they are not able to go to work and earn a living.

"There should be a furlough scheme that matches what was provided before and it is important to remember that many of the jobs involved here are amongst the lowest paid.

“Many people will be fearful of what is to come over the coming months whether it be for the risk of the virus, their place of employment being closed, or the impact on them and their loved ones of the restrictions.

"We can and will get through this but we will only do so by pulling together. The Government’s approach at this moment in time will not bring about this togetherness.”

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