Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Local authority Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential Supplies

Updated 13 November 2020

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Applies to England

This guidance applies to local authorities in England only.

The Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential Supplies is for local authorities in England to use to support people who are struggling to afford food and other essentials due to COVID-19.

This funding is in addition to the £6.5 billion of extra support the government is providing through the welfare system.

1. Objectives and principles

You should:

  • use discretion on how to identify and support those most in need
  • use the funding from July onwards to meet immediate need and help those who are struggling to afford food and essentials due to COVID-19
  • use the funding for existing schemes and other support which deliver the same outcomes and where the need is greatest
  • work together with other local authorities to provide support and ensure the funding meets its objectives

When deciding how to help people, you should consider:

  • using cash or vouchers where practical - this may reduce pressure on your local partners
  • advising and providing information to people to help them access longer term support they might need, such as benefits - you should decide which approach is suitable in your community

The government anticipates that most of the funding will be spent within 12 weeks.

2. Managing the risk of fraud

Fraudsters have been targeting COVID-19 support funds.

The main fraud risks are likely to be individuals:

  • applying who are not in genuine need of assistance
  • spending payments or vouchers on non-essential items

You should :

  • check that applicants meet relevant eligibility criteria
  • verify applicants’ identity and bank account details, where relevant

If you suspect fraud, you should notify Defra of the:

  • number of instances
  • total amount lost

This will help Defra identify any emerging threats and share them with other local authorities, so they can take steps to prevent and detect any fraud in their schemes.

3. Individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)

You can provide basic safety net support to an individual, regardless of their immigration status, if there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution, for example if:

  • there are community care needs
  • they have serious health problems
  • there is a risk to a child’s wellbeing

The rules around immigration status have not changed. You must use your judgement to decide what legal powers and funding can be used to support individuals who are ineligible for public funds or statutory housing assistance.

4. Complying with State Aid rules

The funding is intended to benefit individuals struggling to afford food and other essential items as a result of COVID-19. The funds should not be used for any economic undertaking.

However you use the funding to support individuals, including where you work in partnership with others, you should consider all state aid issues. Check whether the de minimis regulation applies. You should also follow government procurement procedures where relevant.

5. Funding overlap

Consider the individual’s circumstances when making a decision on their support claim through this grant.

Individuals may be receiving other forms of support, including Universal Credit.

If families are receiving food vouchers for children through the Covid Summer Food Fund, this should be taken into account, and you should avoid duplicating provision.

However, families receiving Covid Summer Food Fund vouchers are not excluded from receiving support through the grant. For example, a family may:

  • have additional wider needs in terms of food
  • require other essential supplies
  • include individual family members that are not in receipt of these vouchers

6. Administration costs

You should consider whether another authority is better placed to administer the funds if they have greater:

  • administrative capacity
  • capacity to deliver the fund’s objectives

In all cases, you should keep administrative costs to a minimum.

This grant has been designed to make best use of existing schemes and other forms of support to help those in need. Given the flexibility around this funding, Defra expects the administrative cost burden to local authorities to be minimal. You can take any incremental administration costs for this grant from the grant itself.

7. Public Sector Equality Duty

Under the Equality Act 2010, all public authorities must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty. For the purposes of this grant, you should consider how any support that helps people facing severe financial hardship impacts those with characteristics protected under the Equality Act.

You must ensure people are not disadvantaged or treated unfairly by these schemes or other forms of support. For example, the application process should be easy to access and to navigate.

8. Monitoring the spending

You’ll be expected to provide information on how the grant has been spent. Defra will monitor spending through regular financial reporting and an online survey.

8.1 Regular financial reporting

The government will collect information on spending from this fund in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) COVID-19 monthly financial survey that is sent to all local authorities. This will include details on how much was spent and on which interventions.

8.2 Online Survey

Defra will send you a short online survey at the end of October 2020.

The survey will ask you for information including:

  • what type of support you provided
  • the criteria you used to assess claims
  • the percentage of the fund spent on administration
  • the level of demand for support compared to before the lockdown
  • your processes that maintained equality and reduced fraud

You will not be required to collect and monitor detailed information on applicants. If you do collect any additional information, you can share this in the survey.

How Defra monitors spending will depend on how much funding you receive.

If you receive:

  • less than £250K, you will not be required to complete the survey
  • between £250K – £1m, you may be randomly selected to be asked to provide a roughly representative sample
  • more than £1m, you will be asked to complete the survey

You’ll need to provide a contact to manage the monitoring and evaluation of this grant.

There may be opportunities for local authorities to be involved in further optional qualitative evaluative research.

9. Allocation of funding

This funding is for unitary authorities and shire county councils. It is paid as a grant, under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. The funding is not ring-fenced.

The government has allocated money according to the population of each local authority, weighted by a function of the English Index of Multiple Deprivation, as a proxy for additional need. The specific allocations to each local authority is listed in the following table:

9.1 Grant Allocations to local authorities

Local Authority Allocation
Barking and Dagenham London Borough £ 322,440.18
Barnet London Borough £ 365,755.89
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council £ 350,617.72
Bath and North East Somerset Council £ 143,306.71
Bedford UA £ 178,736.83
Bexley London Borough £ 229,661.99
Birmingham City Council £ 1,922,958.32
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council £ 239,387.07
Blackpool Borough Council £ 261,157.50
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council £ 411,679.84
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council £ 395,909.63
Bracknell Forest Borough Council £ 81,979.41
Brent London Borough £ 423,366.11
Brighton and Hove Council £ 320,713.25
Bristol Council £ 607,935.69
Bromley London Borough £ 279,372.15
Buckinghamshire County Council £ 358,545.53
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council £ 229,549.24
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council £ 272,015.78
Cambridgeshire County Council £ 540,869.92
Camden London Borough £ 290,260.86
Central Bedfordshire UA £ 217,555.31
Cheshire East UA £ 326,292.53
Cheshire West and Chester UA £ 342,959.76
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council £ 845,079.25
City of London £ 7,473.29
City of York Council £ 154,435.11
Cornwall County UA £ 678,757.29
County of Herefordshire District Council £ 199,369.26
Coventry City Council £ 479,026.85
Croydon London Borough £ 447,227.81
Cumbria County Council £ 554,554.83
Darlington Borough Council £ 135,196.96
Derby City Council £ 333,340.27
Derbyshire County Council £ 808,261.89
Devon County Council £ 757,020.62
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council £ 446,006.30
Dorset Council £ 341,739.35
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council £ 392,121.09
Durham County UA £ 693,931.24
Ealing London Borough £ 396,152.19
East Riding of Yorkshire Council £ 305,771.00
East Sussex County Council £ 591,062.61
Enfield London Borough £ 426,007.06
Essex County Council £ 1,422,336.28
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council £ 274,364.58
Gloucestershire County Council £ 558,726.49
Greenwich London Borough £ 358,610.39
Hackney London Borough £ 426,918.54
Halton Borough Council £ 192,692.29
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough £ 216,840.85
Hampshire County Council £ 1,074,224.76
Haringey London Borough £ 365,522.23
Harrow London Borough £ 218,260.11
Hartlepool Council £ 147,104.48
Havering London Borough £ 246,336.19
Hertfordshire County Council £ 924,073.18
Hillingdon London Borough £ 308,075.85
Hounslow London Borough £ 305,133.96
Isle of Wight Council £ 169,301.51
Isles of Scilly Council £ 1,537.08
Islington London Borough £ 325,106.02
Kensington and Chelsea Royal Borough £ 174,867.46
Kent County Council £ 1,669,165.92
Kingston Upon Hull City Council £ 455,496.22
Kingston upon Thames Royal Borough £ 127,326.45
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council £ 551,350.34
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council £ 274,506.40
Lambeth London Borough £ 414,482.46
Lancashire County Council £ 1,453,005.64
Leeds City Council £ 1,051,565.15
Leicester City Council £ 519,466.60
Leicestershire County Council £ 541,860.19
Lewisham London Borough £ 401,164.70
Lincolnshire County Council £ 823,984.57
Liverpool City Council £ 903,782.66
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames £ 124,835.40
Luton Borough Council £ 271,534.80
Manchester City Council £ 956,642.90
Medway Borough Council £ 336,715.05
Merton London Borough £ 176,471.62
Middlesbrough Borough £ 244,452.75
Milton Keynes Council £ 267,635.64
Newcastle upon Tyne Metropolitan District Council £ 425,275.02
Newham London Borough £ 501,838.32
Norfolk County Council £ 1,015,631.28
North East Lincolnshire Council £ 232,900.97
North Lincolnshire Council £ 197,363.04
North Somerset Council £ 195,822.76
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council £ 239,025.00
North Yorkshire County Council £ 531,942.67
Northamptonshire County Council £ 771,088.63
Northumberland County UA £ 367,814.51
Nottingham City Council £ 524,113.62
Nottinghamshire County Council £ 858,285.38
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council £ 361,208.27
Oxfordshire £ 506,930.01
Peterborough City Council £ 275,592.22
Plymouth City Council £ 343,179.73
Portsmouth City Council £ 283,735.49
Reading Borough Council £ 172,137.37
Redbridge London Borough £ 292,357.34
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council £ 193,735.63
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council £ 347,210.07
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council £ 373,328.79
Rutland County Council District Council £ 23,355.22
Salford Metropolitan District Council £ 403,701.69
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council £ 520,530.62
Sefton £ 363,351.14
Sheffield City Council £ 774,649.19
Shropshire County UA £ 311,899.69
Slough Borough Council £ 176,075.87
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council £ 209,692.97
Somerset County Council £ 572,628.21
South Gloucestershire Council £ 210,924.38
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council £ 221,234.43
Southampton City Council £ 333,850.43
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council £ 212,602.73
Southwark London Borough £ 411,967.30
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council £ 265,460.70
Staffordshire County Council £ 823,233.17
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council £ 321,580.94
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council £ 251,811.52
Stoke-on-Trent City Council £ 401,561.04
Suffolk County Council £ 770,055.41
Sunderland City Council £ 397,220.10
Surrey County Council £ 788,015.67
Sutton London Borough £ 171,210.37
Swindon Borough Council £ 227,887.85
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council £ 331,533.64
Telford and Wrekin Council £ 225,821.44
Thurrock Council £ 193,819.09
Torbay Borough Council £ 185,466.01
Tower Hamlets London Borough £ 445,828.92
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council £ 217,996.54
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council £ 466,633.79
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council £ 420,523.36
Waltham Forest London Borough £ 350,408.60
Wandsworth London Borough £ 309,888.59
Warrington Borough Council £ 215,549.94
Warwickshire County Council £ 520,532.13
West Berkshire District Council £ 103,352.77
West Sussex County Council £ 737,319.31
Westminster City Council £ 284,012.33
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council £ 416,740.45
Wiltshire County UA £ 410,586.93
Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough Council £ 87,590.66
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council £ 453,828.63
Wokingham District Council £ 77,342.88
Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council £ 393,536.03
Worcestershire County Council £ 595,631.97

10. Contact us

10.1 If you’re a local authority

You can email enquiries about this guidance or use of the funding to: EmergencyAssistanceGrant@defra.gov.uk

10.2 If you’re a member of the public

To find out more about how this funding could help you, how your local council are using it with members of your community, or other support available in your area, you should contact your local council.

You can find your local council’s website by using this link: https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council