Responding to the coronavirus pandemic is a national effort the likes of which few people will have seen in their lifetime.
Every household, business and part of Government is working together more closely than ever before in the shared fight against coronavirus.
And that’s never been clearer than when looking at the immense efforts of local government.
You are delivering essential supplies to clinically vulnerable people and providing financial relief to businesses. You are ensuring our bins continue to be collected, and children of key workers can still go to school. And you’re helping rough sleepers to get off the streets.
These efforts have freed up more than 30,000 hospital beds, resulted in a staggering 90% of rough sleepers being offered accommodation and delivered more than 250,000 boxes of essential supplies and household items to our nation’s most vulnerable.
The local government secretary, Robert Jenrick, said on Saturday that colleagues working in local government are the unsung heroes of the fight against the coronavirus. He was absolutely right, and we are both determined to ensure that you have the resources you need to keep up this essential work.
That is why this weekend we announced an additional £1.6bn of new funding for councils. This funding takes the total amount given to councils to help them through the pandemic to more than £3.2bn.
We are also helping councils by deferring £2.6bn in business rates payments to central government and paying them £850m in social care grants up front this month.
And this week I have written to all of England’s local authority chief executives and chief financial officers thanking them again for their efforts and providing further details on the support we are providing.
These funds will again be un-ringfenced, recognising you are best placed to decide how to meet these pressures in your local area. We are aiming to confirm allocations as soon as possible and pay the grants in May.
Finally, I want to echo Robert Jenrick’s message about the importance of public parks and open spaces. For many people, access to public parks is a lifeline, and is an unparalleled way of improving their mental and physical health and wellbeing.
While of course it is essential to maintain social distancing rules and to manage public spaces sensibly, it is crucial that parks remain open and I know that local government will work hard to achieve this aim.
This period has been immensely challenging, but I am hugely proud of the work you have been doing to support our local communities.
My officials and I have been speaking to local leaders at all levels across the country, so we can understand local challenges and find out what more we can do to help. I can assure you that we will keep listening and working closely with you on this most important mission.
Simon Clarke is minister of state for regional growth and local government
