Sandwell Council faces spending extra £14 million coping with effects of Covid-19
Local authority bosses have said Covid-19 is piling pressure on budgets as Sandwell Council faces spending an extra £14 million coping with the effects of coronavirus.
The cost to the borough was revealed as the emergency committee met yesterday to discuss the impact of the virus.
It comes after Councillor Luke Giles, chairman of Sandwell’s budget and corporate scrutiny management board, said last week: “If the Government doesn’t start doshing out money quick – not just now but in the future – then residents will see services disappearing.”
The financial blow is expected to fall heaviest on services for vulnerable adults with more than £12 million being used to support care homes, staff and personal protective equipment (PPE).
A report on the cost of Covid-19 over the next the next five months estimates an extra £1 million will be spent on services dealing with deaths.
Council officers warn this could increase, saying: “The temporary mortuary costs reflect a capacity of only 3,335 bodies compared to the initial requirement of 6,900.
“There are also a considerable number of ‘known unknowns’ and the estimated costs of this provision are changing almost daily. It is therefore possible that the actual costs are significantly higher than the current estimate.”
Police have stressed these numbers relate to the West Midlands and Warwickshire region as a whole adding the total number deaths cannot be predicted.
The report also also warns of a £9.1 million fall in income, saying: “The estimated loss of income (excluding business rates and council tax) for the period April to August 2020 is £9.124m. This is as a result of both services closing and decisions being made to cease charging for some facilities to ease the burden on residents and businesses.”
Answering the call by town halls for more money, the Government has announced an extra £1.6 billion taking the total has given to councils to help their communities through the crisis to more than £3.2 billion.
Since March, Sandwell has suspended legal action for late council tax payments.
In 2019, Sandwell announced it had £27 million in reserves but because of the coronavirus outbreak no formal budget has been set this year.
