Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has welcomed the Executive’s allocation of a further £15million to councils bringing the total since the start of the COVID-19 crisis to over £75million.
It follows a bid from the Communities Minister to ensure councils can continue to positively contribute to the response to and recovery from COVID-19.
Minister Ní Chuilín said: “Councils have been and will continue to be at the forefront of delivering key local public services during this extremely difficult time.
“This further funding that has been secured will support the councils given the financial losses they are experiencing arising from the closure or reduced capacity of leisure centres and reduced income from the likes of planning and building control.
“£75m to date is a significant cash injection and demonstrates the Executive’s continued commitment to our partners in local government to help them alleviate their financial pressures.”
Councils will also be able to avail of the Job Support Scheme from 1 November 2020 as partially publicly funded organisations, such as councils, are eligible for this support where their private revenues have been disrupted. The Job Support Scheme will replace the Furlough scheme (which councils could also avail of) which ends on 31 October 2020.
The Minister continued: “I very much welcome this further funding for councils, which along with the availability of the Job Support Scheme will help to protect jobs and services.”
