NORTH Yorkshire County Council has welcomed an additional £1.6bn in funding announced for local authorities, designed to help with the escalating costs of the covid-19 crisis.

The county council, which has lobbied government on the pressing financial challenges created by the pandemic, will be informed of its individual allocation next week.

“We greatly appreciate that Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has been listening to us,” said Councillor Carl Les, North Yorkshire County Council’s leader.

“He has taken on board that we urgently need additional funding for the crucial role we are playing in pulling communities together and building trust among people to fight the pandemic and for that we are thankful.”

The council submitted an estimate of costs as a result of covid-19, which showed its finances would be £65m worse-off than had been anticipated before the pandemic. Whilst £15m had been provided by government as an additional grant, that still left a shortfall of £50m.

North Yorkshire has worked to prepare services to meet the crisis, setting up emergency school hubs for the children of critical workers, supporting the NHS and care providers to cope with their increased costs, sourcing additional PPE, coordinating an army of volunteers and creating a new way of working for frontline social care teams.

Cllr Les added: “We don’t yet know the size of this additional allocation for the county council but this extra funding will undoubtedly help to bridge the gap.

“Nevertheless we still face massive financial challenges and we estimated that the original allocation of £15m of grant for covid-19 needed to be quadrupled to deal with the estimated costs.”

Before this crisis, North Yorkshire, which is England’s largest county, “desperately needed clarity around long-term funding solutions”, particularly for adult social care and special educational needs, in the face of persistent demand.

North Yorkshire’s financial planning has been dependent on nearly £62m of temporary funding after the council lost around £136m in direct grants from government since 2011 when austerity began.

Together with the overall savings the local authority has had to deliver as well as the rise in demand, the council’s spending power has been reduced by 40 per cent.

“The whole of North Yorkshire is pulling together to meet this unprecedented challenge and we are doing everything we can to keep people well and safe and to support the NHS,” said Cllr Les.

“But we were already operating with reduced spending power so there is no doubt that we like many other councils, will need supportive and long-term partnership with government for the crucial role we play and to see this crisis through.”