Coronavirus: £14m from government to tackle crisis in Cambridgeshire

Council documents show the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government expects “the majority of the funding will be spent on meeting the increased demand for adult social care, including providing additional support to providers”.

The funding is not ringfenced, meaning it can be spent on any services at the council’s discretion.

The county council has yet to allocate the grant to specific areas, but its general purposes committee will be asked on April 23 to earmark the funding “for the purposes of responding to the coronavirus pandemic during 2020/21”.

Council papers published on April 16 say: “At the time of writing, the financial impacts of the pandemic are being estimated, projected and monitored with weekly reporting to the strategic management team. As well as adult social care there are a wide range of other additional costs and reduced income likely.”

The council said it is recording the spend from its reserves to address the crisis “in detail such that it is in a position to reclaim further amounts were these to exceed the grant level”.

The council said it is currently purchasing additional care placements to allow the “swiftest possible hospital discharges” during the pandemic. The council said it has received further funding for those placements from the NHS. The council said on April 15 that it has secured “300 additional beds in existing residential and nursing home provisions”.

The county council’s budget for the year 2020/21, agreed in February, is £612 million, excluding school grants. The council said the £14.6 million grant was received in the 2019/20 financial year.

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service