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<p>Following the Government’s announcement on 18 March of an initial wave of £1.6
billion of funding to respond to COVID-19 impacts on local councils, we continued
to keep funding pressures under review, using both data collection and ongoing conversations
with councils to refine our assessment.</p><p>On 28 April, the Secretary of State
announced allocations of an additional £1.6 billion to individual local authorities.</p><p>Whereas
the first funding allocation was primarily allocated to local authorities through
the Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula, in recognition that the greatest immediate
pressures would fall on local authorities with social care responsibilities, this
second wave of funding was allocated on a per capita basis. This reflects our latest
understanding of the distribution of additional covid-related pressures, which are
likely to be distributed in a way that is different from pre-existing needs. The 65:35
spilt in this per capita allocation between counties and districts in two-tier shire
areas provides more funding to district councils than the first wave of funding, whilst
providing significant support to social care authorities.</p><p>It is important that
these two waves of funding are seen together and that false comparisons between the
two are avoided. Across both waves, almost 70 per cent of district councils will receive
£1 million or more in support, whilst more than 90 per cent of the funding will go
to social care authorities.</p>
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