Whitehall plans for local government finance reform were thrown into doubt this week after civil servants indicated the pandemic would force them to rethink.

Proposals for 75% business rates retention and the results of a fair funding review, which were originally due to be introduced in 2020-21, were last year delayed for a second time until at least 2022-23 to ‘allow councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenge posed by the pandemic'.