Coronavirus: Leeds City Council faces £130m shortfall

Leeds City Council said it had lost more than £100m of income due to the Covid-19 outbreak

A council is facing costs of £130m to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said the authority was losing income from rates and car parking fees as well as facing additional costs of about £28m to provide extra services to deal with the pandemic.

The city has so far been given £22m in support from central government.

Over the weekend, Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick announced a further £1.6bn in aid.

Ms Blake told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "While we welcome the extra £1.6bn for local government, we recognise this is part of the journey we are on, and this is not going to cover the cost of the Covid-19 crisis."

The Labour leader said the lost income so far was about £102m and made up of unpaid business and council tax rates, as well as fees from sports centres, planning and car parking.

She said an additional £8.3m was expected to be needed for adult social care services during the outbreak, while children's social care is estimated to generate an extra £10.6m in costs.

"The estimated shortfall at the moment is around £130m," said Ms Blake.

"This estimate is increasing too, as we don't know how long the crisis is going to go on."

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Last month, the government announced it would give £1.6bn to local councils to help pay for extra services, with Leeds City Council allocated £22m.

An additional £1.6bn was announced on Saturday.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the extra funding would mean councils can continue to provide essential services.

"This includes getting rough sleepers off the street, supporting new shielding programmes for clinically extremely vulnerable people and assistance for our heroic public health workforce and fire and rescue services," it said.