Warning over financial impact of rising Covid-19 cases in Hartlepool

Councillors on Hartlepool Borough Council Finance and Policy Committee were this week provided with an update on the financial position the local authority faces due to the coronavirus outbreak.

At last estimates the council faced a £2.154million shortfall in costs relating to the pandemic.

Chris Little, council director of resources and development, noted earlier this month it was announced by the Government there would a fourth tranche of Covid-19 emergency funding, totalling £1billion to be shared among local authorities

He added although details of how this will be allocated have not been released yet, if it is calculated in the same way as previous Covid-19 funding it could be a ‘really positive sign’ for the authority.

Mr Little said: “If it’s based on the previous allocation methodologies we could get between £1.6million and £2million, so given that we’re about £2.1million short on our last estimate of the Covid impact, that’s a really positive sign.”

To date Hartlepool has received just under £7million from the first three tranches of Government Covid-19 funding, after receiving £3.404 million from the first pot, followed by £2.559million from the second and £1.013million from the third.

However Mr Little also warned councillors following the recent rise in cases, the coming weeks will be key in determining the financial impact of Covid-19 in Hartlepool.

He said: “Obviously there is a concern that probably about a month ago we thought we had turned a corner but everyone is aware the numbers have picked up.

“We’re in a difficult position and depending on where cases go over the next few weeks that will determine the local impact.

“That could lead to increased costs and it could lead to greater reductions of income than we forecast, it will all depend on how things start to change over the remainder of the year.”

He added more updates will be provided to a future meeting of the council finance and policy committee, with the halfway point of the financial year recently passed.

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