Guidance

COMF grant determination letter 31/5225 (28 October 2020)

Updated 6 May 2022

Applies to England

Revenue grant determination (ringfenced): local authority COVID-19 Test and Trace Contain Outbreak Management Fund surge funding grant determination 2020 to 2021 – No 31/5225

The Minister of State for the Department of Health and Social Care (‘the Minister of State’), in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:

Citation

1) This determination may be cited as the ‘Local authority Test and Trace Contain Outbreak Management Fund level surge funding grant determination (2020 to 2021) [31/5225]’.

Purpose of the grant

2) The purpose of the grant is to provide support to the councils, as detailed, towards expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred in relation to the mitigation against and management of local outbreaks of COVID-19.

3) Further information on local authorities’ role in local outbreaks is contained in the letter from the Minister of State for Patient Safety on 23 May 2020.

Determination

4) The Minister of State determines as the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid, the authorities and the amounts set out in Annex A.

5) The grant shall be payable in one instalment in October 2020.

Grant conditions

6) Pursuant to section [31(3) and] 31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Minister of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the conditions in Annex B.

Treasury consent

7) Before making this determination in relation to local authorities in England, the Minister of State obtained the consent of the Treasury to allocate and distribute £15.6 million.

Signed by authority of the Minister of State for Department of Health and Social Care.

Donald Shepherd
Finance and Commercial Director
Department of Health and Social Care

28 October 2020

Annex A

Authorities to which grant is to be paid	Amount of grant to be paid
Stoke-on-Trent	£769,125
Coventry	£1,114,563
Slough	£448,617
Barnsley	£1,974,928
Doncaster	£2,495,120
Rotherham	£2,123,288
Sheffield	£4,678,824
Wakefield	£1,044,936
High Peak	£100,710
Walsall	£856,434
Total	£15,606,545

Annex B: grant conditions

1. In 2-tier areas, this grant is conditional on upper-tier authorities working closely with their lower-tier partners and ensuring those partners are given opportunities to deliver the outcomes this grant is meant to support where delivery by those partners would be the most efficient and cost-effective means of delivery. In those cases, it is essential that upper-tier authorities provide sufficient resources to lower-tier authorities within the former’s allocated funding (see Annex A) so that the latter can carry out any responsibilities that they are asked to undertake.

2. The Chief Executive and Chief Internal Auditor of each of the recipient authorities are required to sign and return to the Contain Outbreak Management Fund Team at Covid-19LAfundingrequests@dhsc.gov.uk the declaration below, by 30 June 2022.

To the best of our knowledge and belief, and having carried out appropriate investigations and checks, in our opinion, in all significant respects, the conditions attached to the ‘Local authority Test and Trace Contain Outbreak Management Fund surge funding grant determination 2020 to 2021: No 31/5225’ have been complied with.

3. If an authority fails to comply with any of the conditions and requirements of paragraphs 1 and 2, the Minister of State may either:

a) reduce, suspend or withhold grant

b) by notification in writing to the authority, require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant

4. Any sum notified by the Minister of State under paragraph 3(b) shall immediately become repayable to the Minister.