• The Government is providing an additional £1.6 billion to local authorities so they have the resources they need to respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
• This is in addition to the £1.6 billion already announced in March.
• Crawley allocated a total of £1,185,859 and West Sussex allocated a total of £36,430,238 to continue providing essential services and support to those who need it the most.

Henry Smith MP has welcomed news that Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council will receive a share of an extra £1.6 billion in funding to make sure councils can continue to support their communities and deliver vital services through this challenging time.

This extra £1.6 billion takes the total additional funding to councils through this crisis to over £3.2 billion, an unprecedented level of extra financial support in recent times.

The additional support will mean councils can continue to provide essential services, such as adult social care and children’s services, while also providing support to people impacted by the coronavirus. This includes protecting rough sleepers, with 90 per cent of rough sleepers offered safe accommodation so far, establishing shielding programmes for clinically extremely vulnerable people and ensuring there is additional support available across a range of other vital council services.

This announcement builds on other government measures, including allowing councils to defer the payment of business rates to central government and providing them with a combined £850 million in up front social care grants, that will help with their cash flows so they can continue to deliver vital services. 

Henry said;

“I’m really pleased that Crawley will receive more than an additional £1.1 million from the Government to help ensure essential services are not impacted by the extra demands placed on councils by COVID-19.

“West Sussex County Council will receive over an additional £15.9 million, meaning since the pandemic started, the council will have received an extra £36.4 million.

“This is part of the additional £3.2 billion the Government is providing to councils across England to ensure they have the resources they need during this difficult time.

“My thanks to all in local and national government who are doing such an important job under extraordinary circumstances, helping to ensure the vulnerable are protected and supported. I’ll continue to support what they’re doing for our community and work closely with ministers to ensure they always have the resources they need to carry out their important work.”

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, Robert Jenrick, commented;

“Councils are playing a central role in our national fight against coronavirus and the Government continues to back them at this challenging time.

“That’s why I announced an extra £3.2 billion of support for councils to help them to continue their extraordinary efforts.

“Today I’m setting out how the latest £1.6 billion of this will be allocated to councils in the fairest way possible, recognising the latest and best assessment of the pressures they face.

“We are backing local district councils and a clear majority will receive at least £1 million in additional funding.”