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Dear Colleague,
This afternoon the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, spoke at our virtual annual conference in a session chaired by the Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group, Cllr Izzi Seccombe.
In advance of his appearance, the Secretary of State announced a new package of financial support for local government which seeks to address councils’ legitimate COVID-19 spending and compensate for some lost income. There will be an income guarantee to help reimburse lost income from sales, fees and charges (SFCs). If a council incurs lost SFCs worth more than 5 per cent of their previously planned income, 75p of every additional pound lost will be reimbursed by Government. Councils will remain liable to cover the first 5 per cent of all lost planned SFCs income. We are seeking clarification from Government on what SFCs income is included. We understand that the scheme will not cover lost commercial income.
The Government will also bring in changes to allow councils to spread local tax (council tax and business rates) deficits over three years instead of the current one-year rule. The Secretary of State announced that the Government will decide how irrecoverable local tax losses will be shared between central and local government at the next Spending Review.
In addition the Secretary of State announced that local government, as a whole, will receive an additional, unringfenced £500 million in response to spending pressures in local areas.
This new package of measures builds on the £3.2 billion unringfenced funding already allocated to councils and £300 million from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). This package, alongside the Government continuing to seek monthly returns regarding the financial impact of COVID-19, shows the Government is committed to understanding the impact of the pandemic. Councils have, in turn, provided robust evidence detailing your financial challenges.
As we said in our media response, this latest package offers some helpful measures and recognises the pressures councils are facing. In particular, the extra funding and the commitment to fund a portion of lost income are steps in the right direction. Allowing councils to spread tax deficits over three years will also help councils during this time, but substantial additional funding is desperately needed to fully address the severe financial challenges facing councils and local services as a result of COVID-19.
We have today reiterated our call to the Government to meet all extra cost pressures and income losses from fees and charges and other sources, including commercial activity, and for the Government to cover all irrecoverable losses from council tax in full. This is needed if councils are to avoid having to make tough decisions on in-year cuts to services to meet their legal duty to set a balanced budget this year. We await further details on how the new £500 million grant will be distributed.
We will continue to work on behalf of councils to make the case to the Government on the further measures and funding needed to protect local services. If there is anything you wish for us to be aware of as we develop our activity as local government’s national voice, please do let us know by liaising with your Principal Adviser.
LGA Annual Conference
As I mentioned above, today’s keynote address was delivered by our Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, who began by praising councillors and council staff as the “unsung heroes who have worked tirelessly to get us through crisis”. He mentioned your efforts in protecting vulnerable people, supporting businesses, keeping schools open for vulnerable children and those of key workers, mobilising volunteers, providing essential services such as refuse collections and maintaining parks and green spaces. He also praised councils’ efforts to protect people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, support victims of domestic violence, and get rough sleepers off the streets and into safe accommodation. On behalf of the Prime Minister and Government, he thanked attendees on the webinar and asked them to pass on the appreciation to everyone who works in councils.
As businesses, high streets and places of worship begin to open again, Mr Jenrick described councils as the “heroes of national recovery” while recognising there is still a great deal of work to do – nationally and locally – to get the country and economy through this.
He outlined his latest funding announcement, as referenced above, and promised to write to councils with more details, including on the operation of the new reimbursement scheme, in due course. He promised that his and his officials’ door is always open to discuss the individual needs of councils in further detail.
Turning to local outbreaks and lockdowns and the situation in Leicester this week, the Secretary of State reiterated our shared efforts to urge the public to adhere to public health advice. He said that minimising the spread of infection across the country would require a joined-up approach from all parts of local and national government including from the police and local resilience forums. He spoke about the importance of communication, a community-focused strategy and ensuring access to the right data at the right times. Mr Jenrick was clear that there is a role for central government to ensure councils have the right data to understand what is happening in local areas, and that we all need to learn lessons from Leicester and other places.
He also spoke about the need to build a cross-party consensus on the plans to secure the future sustainability of adult social care, and councils’ role in town deals, boosting housebuilding, skills and education. He promised that the Devolution White Paper would be place-based, provide power to local communities and would kickstart the economy. He said that Simon Clarke MP, Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government would expand on this agenda at his annual conference session at 10.30am tomorrow morning. There is still time to sign up to book your free place on the Zoom webinar.
I hope you enjoyed today's exclusive Spotlight on the Chief Executive session. It was fantastic to hear from colleagues about their leadership in responding to COVID-19. We heard a story of personal resilience from someone who’s first day on the job was the first day of restrictions. We were reminded that politics doesn’t go away during a crisis and the need to be transparent with elected members. We also talked about the importance of looking after ourselves and supporting our teams, while shining a light on the critical need to focus on mental health. Finally, we reflected on the phenomenal effort of our staff and colleagues across local government. Thanks to everyone who contributed and everyone who tuned in. Please remember that tomorrow is our closed session for chief executives with the senior team within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Test and trace
Week four’s figures of the new Test and Trace contact tracing service in England were released today. The analysis shows that between 18 and 24 June, 297,427 people were tested for COVID-19 under Pillars 1 and 2. Of these, 6,183 people tested positive for Coronavirus and had their cases transferred to the tracing service, a decrease of 740 on the previous week. Of those, 4,639 people (75 per cent) provided information about their recent contacts, which meant that 23,028 people were identified as close contacts. So far, NHS Test and Trace has identified 132,525 close, recent contacts of those who tested positive for the virus, 86.4 per cent of those reported.
In today’s Local Outbreak Plan Advisory Board there was a general update on the Test and Trace programme, the contain framework, which will show where decision making sits, and local communications planning. Experiences, particularly about data, were also shared by Cllr Nicholas Rushton from Leicestershire and Cllr Louise Gittins from Cheshire West and Chester. In addition to the slides shared at the board, other documents on the council-only Testing, Tracing, and Outbreak Management Khub (registration with a .gov.uk email address required) include the emerging LGA support offer and good practice. It also includes the full guidance sent to council's communication leads, including local communication planning guides, matrix planning tool and local outbreak plans press handling guide.
Schools
The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson made a statement in Parliament on the Government’s plan for education settings to reopen in full in September. He said the return to school was critical to the national recovery and he thanked all education, childcare and other staff who have gone above and beyond since March. He said the Government would continue to engage with the education sector and with Public Health England to reduce the risk of transmission in schools and other settings.
Mr Williamson outlined a range of safety measures for schools, nurseries, and other settings, including access to testing which he said would be made readily available to all staff, pupils and parents, including home testing kits to be made available by the start of the autumn term.
The Education Secretary added that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) would also return and that the Government was committed to removing the flexibilities given to local authorities to deliver EHCPs as soon as possible but would consider any necessary local approaches.
He said that school closures had meant that several children had been exposed to harms and that local authorities, schools and police had forged new partnerships to address concerns about the wellbeing of children. He added that the Government’s guidance recognised the additional support needed to protect the emotional and behavioural wellbeing of children.
Although the Government’s guidance provides schools and councils with a framework to reopen schools safely from September, they will now need the space and time to work locally to draw up detailed plans. In our response today we called on the Department for Education (DfE) to provide the reassurance that parents need to send children back to school, and remain in dialogue with school leaders to tackle outstanding issues, such as the provision of home-to-school transport and sanctions for non-attendance. By working together, we can achieve the best outcomes for our communities.
Schools guidance
The DfE published guidance to support the full opening of schools in September, as well as guidance for the full opening of special schools and other specialist institutions and guidance for further education and skills providers.
The guidance makes clear that current restrictions on group sizes will be lifted so schools, colleges and nurseries can fully reopen. Social distancing measures will remain in place but ‘bubbles’ will increase in size to include an entire class or year group and older children will be encouraged to keep their distance from each other and staff where possible. This is alongside protective measures such as regular cleaning and handwashing.
Where there is a positive case in a school or college, the Public Health England local health protection team will advise on the appropriate action, which could include small groups of young people and staff being asked to self-isolate for up to 14 days. Where there are two or more confirmed cases in a two-week period, health protection teams may ask a larger number of other children or young people to self-isolate at home as a precautionary measure.
A mobile testing unit may be dispatched where there is a confirmed outbreak in a school and home testing kits will also be made available. Schools will be expected to have remote teaching plans in place for pupils self-isolating.
Early years
From 20 July early years settings will no longer have to operate in 'bubbles'. Today’s updated early years guidance confirms that while settings will not be required to arrange children and staff in small, consistent groups, they should still consider how to minimise mixing within settings, for example using different rooms for difference age groups.
Personal protective equipment
Following concerns raised by councils and local resilience forums (LRFs) about the use by dates on items of PPE passed to LRFs for local distribution, MHCLG have shared further information from the Department of Health and Social Care about the quality assurance process for PPE sent to LRFs. The document explains that decisions on what items of PPE are distributed are taken by a cross government regulatory panel, with items that do not have the CE quality mark checked by the Health and Safety Executive and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the market surveillance authorities for PPE.
Vulnerable people and shielding and access to food
In response to a report from consumer group Which? suggesting that some clinically extremely vulnerable people are still struggling to access food, we have today highlighted the significant amount of work done by councils to support both the shielded and a much wider group of vulnerable people, and urged anyone who is struggling to access food to contact their council. Next week, we and the shielding Stakeholder Engagement Forum (SEF) will be resuming discussions with MHCLG about next steps in the shielding programme, support for people who are self-isolating, and what would be required to stand up a revised model of support in the event that it becomes necessary, either because of a local tightening of restrictions or a further national ‘lockdown’. Please do share your thoughts on this with your principal adviser or regional SEF rep.
Outdoor drinking and dining
Ahead of this Saturday’s reopening of pubs and restaurants, we have responded to a statement from the British Beer and Pub Association, UKHospitality, the London Night Czar and the National Police Chiefs Council urging people to support landlords as pubs open their doors for the first time in months. Pubs, cafes and restaurants play an important role in our communities and help to support local economies and councils have been working closely with them as they look to safely reopen for people to enjoy again and for hospitality staff to return to work. We welcome this next step in the unwinding of pandemic restrictions, but also ask people to act responsibly; not just in terms of social distancing, but to avoid anti-social behaviour and littering. I know that your teams will be preparing to deal with any issues that may arise over the course of the weekend and hope that the reopening passes smoothly in your areas.
The current Coronavirus Restrictions Regulations will be revoked tomorrow and replaced by new regulations. Our expectation is that the regulations will take effect from 6.00am on Saturday 4 July so pubs and restaurants will be required to remain closed through Friday night.
We are continuing to engage with MHCLG about the Business and Planning Bill, which will relax alcohol licensing and pavement licensing laws once the Bill is passed later this month. The third reading of the Bill is scheduled for 20 July and we understand it is likely to come into force later that week.
Workforce
Our Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme guidance and employment law FAQs have been updated to cover the introduction of flexible furloughing from 1 July, as well as the revised Cabinet Office guidance on payments to suppliers, including those providing contingent workers.
Tackling modern slavery
A few weeks ago I flagged how you can support the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) ongoing Project AIDANT work to tackle modern slavery. This is particularly important as the restrictions put in place to deal with the pandemic have reduced the visibility of victims as businesses closed, while at the same time unemployment and the furlough scheme has increased vulnerability. Until the end of July, the NCA are coordinating a multi-agency response to slavery with a focus on labour exploitation, particularly in the areas of agriculture, food production and recruitment. The NCA would like to see all localities take part with a focus on other businesses, such as hand car washes, if these are more prevalent in your communities. Councils are encouraged to engage with local policing and modern slavery partnerships to plan activity. Alongside their earlier briefing note the NCA has also now provided some top-level communications lines to help.
Mental health and wellbeing
Over 50 voluntary and social sector organisations have joined forces to publish a Mental Health Renewal Plan that re-imagines a New Social Contract for a mentally healthier society as we emerge in part from this pandemic. The plan issues a rallying call to prioritise bold preventative action to improve mental wellbeing, which I know will chime with many of you. It also recognises the importance of a full and fair funding settlement for councils who provide or commission many of the services that are essential for good mental health.
As you plan for what mental health support your communities need going forward, I’m pleased to share some further resources. We have worked with the Mental Health Foundation to develop a Councillor's workbook on mentally healthier places, which focuses on prevention to reduce the demand on services and aid recovery. And Hertfordshire County Council has commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to produce a short guide to supporting mental health during COVID-19 to help people look after their mental health in the months to come. You can find further mental health COVID-19 resources on the LGA's website.
It’s been another busy day for everyone. I hope you found this Thursday update useful.
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Best wishes,
Mark Lloyd
Chief Executive
Local Government Association
@MarkLloydLGA
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