Coronavirus: Council needs to plug £28million hole in its finances

That was the stark warning given to councillors this morning (Friday) at a cabinet meeting of the authority, which has responsibility for issues such education, public health, social care, waste management and road building across Melton and the rest of the county.

The council has already received £27.6million from the government to help it meet the challenges of retaining services and keeping residents safe but estimates it needs a similar figure again to be able to cope.

If no further financial help is given, County Hall says it would face some ‘difficult decisions’ on its capital programme.

One of the major projects in the programme is the council’s support for the Melton Mowbray Distributor Road - the town’s approved partial bypass - but there is no suggestion this is under threat.

Councillor Byron Rhodes, cabinet member for finance, called on the county’s MPs, including Melton’s Alicia Kearns, to lobby Westminster to provide the desperately-needed funds.

He said: “The financial impact of coronavirus has had an immediate shock to our finances.

“Whilst extra support from the government is obviously welcome, it falls far short of what is necessary to stabilise our finances and allow us to recover from coronavirus and continue support for valued services.

“I have written a briefing for our MPs so they fully understand the position of the county council.

“Further measures are needed to ensure the stability of local authorities including a commitment to underwrite Council Tax and Business Rates income, a consistent approach to adult social care and a coherent plan for funding special educational needs and disability support.”

On top of extra adult social costs, the council is facing a downturn in commercial income, reduced Council Tax and higher waste disposal, IT and construction costs.

The county council says it is in a better financial position than it would have been but for cost-cutting and savings being identified in the budget consistently over the last decade but it already faced increasing pressures from the challenge of supporting social care and special educational needs.

Councillor Rhodes added: “Despite being the lowest funded county council, we went into this crisis in reasonable financial shape.

“That is not the case for many local authorities.

“The crisis offers an opportunity to put the whole of local government on a much sounder financial footing and to recognise that much of the structure of local government is unsustainable.

“These issues impact our financial viability and ability to deliver front line services – and we’re calling on our MPs to raise them at Westminster.”

Chris Tambini, director of corporate resources, told the meeting that the council would have to review its captial programme and consider ‘some difficult decisions’ if signifcant additional money was not provided by the government to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

The meeting heard that there were now 1,207 confirmed lab cases of Covid-19 across Leicestershire, with Melton (62) having far fewer than other districts in the county, particularly Charnwood (260) and Hinckley & Bosworth (232).

Latest data from the Office for National Statistics, the meeting was told, showed that 349 people with coronavirus had died across the county up to May 9, 61 per cent of those in hospitals and 32 per cent in care homes.

Members were told that the council had no issues supplying personal protective equipment to key workers and its stock had been boosted by a donation of 20,000 face masks by the Chinese province of Sichuan, which has partnered with Leicestershire for 32 years to share support for business, tourism and times of need.

The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown has been reflected in the jobs market, the meeting heard, with more than 1,000 additional Jobseekers Allowance

(JSA) claimants recorded in Leicestershire in April 2020, more than doubling the number for March.

Council leader, Nick Rushton, said: “Our extensive response to the coronavirus outbreak is continuing – and supporting vulnerable people remains our number one priority.

“Our focus is on bringing back services carefully, sticking to government guidelines, supporting local communities and boosting the economy.”