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Subject:
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Allocation of
Contain Outbreak Management Funds 2020/21
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Date of Meeting:
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28 April 2021
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Report of:
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Acting Chief Finance
Officer
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Contact Officer:
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Name:
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Nigel Manvell
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Tel:
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01273 293104
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Email:
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Nigel.Manvell@brighton-hove.gov.uk
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Ward(s)
affected:
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All
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FOR GENERAL
RELEASE
1
PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT
1.1
On the 12th October 2020, Local Authorities became eligible for a
series of payments from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund to
support proactive containment and intervention measures. Payments
for the post-June period to 2nd December were based on
£8 per person and this authority received £2.327m in
this respect.
1.2
On 2nd December, Brighton and Hove City remained in Tier 2. As a
result of this the council received £2 per person for
December or £0.665m. From January the country entered a
further national lockdown and payments were made at £4 per
person for January, February and March, totalling £3.823m.
All Contain Outbreak Management Funding is one-off and for 2020/21
totals £6.815m. Given the restrictions and lockdowns in place
since the funding was announced, the funding will need to be
carried forward to the 2021/22 financial year when identified
containment and Covid-19 related costs will be incurred as set out
in the report.
1.3
A range of proactive containment measures were outlined by the
government in a letter to Local Authority Chief Executives on 19th
October. These are outlined in paragraph 3.3.
1.4
Contain Outbreak Management Funds are in addition to the Local
Authority Test and Trace Service Support Grant issued in June 2020
which totalled £300m nationally and from which this authority
received £1.863m. This grant is managed and allocated under
Emergency Planning powers through the Health Protection Board. The
majority of activities identified in the 2020 Local Outbreak Plan
are funded from this source. This includes Covid-19 surveillance,
infection prevention and control, outbreak management, local
contact tracing, engagement and communications, advice and
compliance monitoring of Covid-secure environments and support for
vulnerable and/or self-isolating people via the Community Hub.
1.5
This report proposes the allocation of 2020/21 Contain Outbreak
Management Funding received to date, including delegations for the
management of those allocations.
2
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the Policy & Resources
(Recovery) Sub-Committee:
2.1
Notes the receipt of £6.815m Contain Outbreak Management Fund
from central government for 2020/21 and a further £2.070m for
2021/22.
2.2
Approves the carry forward of 2020/21 Contain Outbreak Management
Funds of £6.815m to 2021/22.
2.3
Agrees to allocate the remainder of the £6.815m Contain
Outbreak Management Funds carried forward from 2020/21 to meet the
unapproved costs identified in Table 2 of the report.
2.4
Delegates any adjustment to approved allocations from the 2020/21
COMF funding to the Director of Public Health in consultation with
the S151 Chief Finance Officer and the Chair of the Policy &
Resources Committee.
2.5
Notes that information on the usage of the funds against the
approved allocations will be reported in the regular Targeted
Budget Management (TBM) monitoring reports to Policy &
Resources Committee.
2.6
Agrees to defer the allocation of 2021/22 Contain Outbreak
Management Funds until later in the financial year when more
information on potential local test, trace and support to
self-isolate and surge testing costs will be known together with
information on the city’s progression through the roadmap to
recovery.
3
CONTEXT/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION
3.1
England, along with the rest of Europe, saw an increase in cases of
COVID in September following the reduction after the first
‘peak’ of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. In
October 2020 the government introduced Local COVID Alert Levels.
From the 12th October 2020, Local Authorities became eligible for a
series of payments from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund to
support proactive containment and intervention measures.
3.2
On 2nd December, Brighton and Hove City was in Tier 2. As a result
of this the council received £2 per person for December or
£0.665m. From January the country entered a further national
lockdown and payments were made at £4 per person for January,
February and March, totalling £3.823m. All Contain Outbreak
Management Funding is one-off and for 2020/21 totals £6.815m.
Given the restrictions and lockdowns in place since the funding was
announced, the funding will need to be carried forward to 2021/22
to meet identified containment and Covid-19 related costs as set
out in the report. The table below shows the breakdown of Contain
Outbreak Management Funding for 2020/21.
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Table 1: Contain
Outbreak Management Funding 2020/21
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Announcements:
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£
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Post-June 2020 core funding (£8 per
person)
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2,327,080
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Tier 2 - 2nd Dec to 29th Dec 20
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664,880
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Tier 4/Lockdown 30th Dec to 26th Jan 21
(£4 per person)
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1,163,540
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Lockdown 27th Jan to 23rd Feb 21 (£4 per
person)
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1,163,540
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Lockdown 24th Feb to 31st Mar 21 (£4 per
person)
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1,495,980
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Total 2020/21
Contain Outbreak Management Funds
|
6,815,020
|
a)
Targeted testing for hard-to-reach groups out of scope of other
testing programmes.
b)
Additional contact tracing.
c)
Enhanced communication and marketing e.g. towards hard-to-reach
groups and other localised messaging.
d)
Delivery of essentials for those in self-isolation.
e)
Targeted interventions for specific sections of the local community
and workplaces.
f)
Harnessing capacity within local sectors (voluntary, academic,
commercial).
g)
Extension/introduction of specialist support (behavioural science,
bespoke comms).
h)
Additional resource for compliance with, and enforcement of,
restrictions and guidance.
i)
Measures to support the continued functioning of commercial areas
and their compliance with public health guidance.
j)
Funding Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (marginal costs
only).
k)
Targeted support for school/university outbreaks.
l)
Community-based support for those disproportionately impacted such
as the BAME population.
m) Support
for engagement and analysis of regional areas to assess and learn
from local initiatives.
n)
Providing initial support, as needed, to vulnerable people classed
as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable who are following tier 3
guidance.
o)
Support for rough sleepers.
3.4
The activities above align well with the Brighton & Hove Local
Outbreak Plan and a wide range of other activities being undertaken
across the authority through both its Recovery & Renewal
Programme and its continuing support for services to groups at high
risk of Covid-19 outbreaks such as those at risk of homelessness or
rough sleeping.
3.5
A primary condition of the grant is to provide information to
government on how the grant has been and is planned to be used.
Four returns have been made so far for the period January 20201 to
the end of March 2021 setting out the potential uses of the grant.
However, as the council’s financial position has considerably
improved in 2020/21 and Public Health outbreak management activity
has so far been funded from the separate Test & Trace Service
Support Grant announced in June 2020 (£1.862m), no allocation
from Contain Outbreak Management Funds is now required in 2020/21.
This is not problematic as the funding can be carried forward into
2021/22 with a final outturn provided to government in June
2022 signed off by the Chief Executive and Chief Internal
Auditor
3.6
The government’s Contain Outbreak Management Policy Letter of
1 December 2020 published by the Department of Health & Social
Care expects activity to be based on local judgement and for
allocations to be made in co-ordination with the Director of Public
Health. For this reason and to demonstrate compliance with the
policy directive, the primary delegations in this report are
recommended to be provided to the Director of Public Health.
4
PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF 2020/21 FUNDING
4.1
As noted above, the total 2020/21 Contain Outbreak Management
Funding (COMF) available is £6.815m. The proposed allocation
is summarised in Table 2 below and the detail of each proposed
allocation is set out in paragraph 4.2 below.
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Table 2: Proposed
Allocation: 2020/21 Contain Outbreak Management Funds
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Item
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Proposed Allocation
(Items in Bold are already approved)
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£’000
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1
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Outbreak Management and Surge Management
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0.566
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2
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Support to address barriers to self
isolation
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0.100
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3
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Extension of Local Welfare Assistance and
Hardship Support
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0.660
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4
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Neighbourhood & Community Support
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0.750
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5
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Support for Food Bank and Community Food
Provision
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0.100
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6
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Next Steps
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping (P&R 18/03/21)
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2.043
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7
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Managing the City
Safely and Outdoor Events Programme 2021 (P&R 29/3/21)
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1.010
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8
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Early Years Providers
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0.107
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9
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Sports and Leisure
Facilities (Freedom Leisure) support (P&R 29/3/21)
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0.363
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10
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Support to Schools (pupil share)
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0.703
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11
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Underpinning Council Services ensuring
operational support for delivery of the Local Outbreak Plan
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0.413
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TOTAL PROPOSALS
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6.815
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1.
Outbreak Management and Surge Management (£0.566m)
This allocation will complement the funding allocated in Summer
2020 and continue the delivery of the Brighton & Hove
Local Outbreak Plan including additional support for Covid-19
surveillance, infection prevention and control, outbreak
management, local contact tracing, enhanced engagement and
communications, advice and compliance monitoring of Covid-secure
environments and support for vulnerable and/or self-isolating
people via the Community Hub
2.
Support to address barriers to self-isolation
(£0.100m)
The Community Hub provides residents with a holistic support offer
that joins up the contact tracing activity with the provision of
help and advice regarding the financial and practical support
available to people to enable them to successfully
self-isolate.
This allocation will provide additional support to those required
to self-isolate for a 10 day period who don’t qualify for the
government self-isolation support payments or have financial
constraints due to precarious work patterns.
3.
Extension of Local Welfare Assistance and Hardship Support
(£0.660m)
This proposal will
provide a preventative approach to people in hardship or on the
cusp of hardship and to ultimately avoid further risk of
homelessness or rough sleeping. This will contribute to overall
outbreak management in the city, including providing support for
those who find it most difficult to self-isolate. The project
proposal includes a number of strands all aimed at debt and
hardship prevention as follows:
·
Debt & Mental Health £0.045m. This is a
continuation of a role that will improve and link up services
across multiple sectors, ensuring that referral routes are clear,
and that best practice is adopted across debt advice, debt
collection, primary care and mental health services. There will
also be a requirement for a continued presence to set up and embed
new processes around debt and mental health, including the setting
up and managing of Debt/Mental Health caseworkers.
·
Money and Health Case workers £0.080m. A proposed new
role of Money & Health Caseworker would be based in the council
supporting vulnerable people as they emerge from the pandemic, with
increasingly challenging debt issues.
·
Debt Advisors £0.080m. Debt is one of the highest
risks facing residents during the pandemic and as the city moves
into the Covid recovery period. The Breathing Space initiative is a
statutory framework beginning in May where debtors can have a hold
put on their debt while they seek accredited debt advice. It is
anticipated that there will be a high number of cases through this
mechanism.
·
Local lift-up scheme £0.175m. To pioneer a new service
exploring jointly with the DWP how best to support people who do
not qualify for standard benefits, Universal Credit or Council Tax
Reduction and yet face significant financial difficulties due to
debt, ongoing expenses and other impacts of Covid. Project
requirements are a Team Leader and Benefits Officer at a cost of
£0.075m together with a discretionary fund for distribution
of £0.100m; a total cost of £0.175m.
·
Winter Grants Scheme £0.090m. The aim of the scheme
would be to provide grants of up to £5,000 to voluntary
sector organisations that provide direct support for food, fuel and
essential items. This would also enable support for Youth and Young
People schemes, something that is known to be an area of
significant demand. The scheme would be intended to run from
October 2021. The proposed scheme would replicant these previous
funding at £0.090m.
·
Local Welfare Assistance funding £0.100m. Funding to
enable the council to continue providing Covid-enhanced features of
the Local Discretionary Social Fund (LDSF), for example:
-
Emergency food and fuel
-
Warmth for wellbeing
-
The 3 3 3 scheme
·
Funding to commission innovative digital solutions in the
voluntary sector for vulnerable people £0.050m This
proposal would allow the council to open a grant process for the
voluntary sector to develop innovative digital solutions in order
to support vulnerable people. A fund of £0.050m is
proposed.
·
Data Insight Project £0.040m. This project proposal
would provide much needed understanding of the impact of Covid on
vulnerability and financial health and contribute to longer term
strategies for improving debt prevention.
·
In the emergency response and ongoing lockdowns, the local Covid
response has been attempting to understand the impact of Covid on
the financial health of the city. it is proposed to set aside
funding for a role that would focus on fully understanding the
longer term impacts on household finance, vulnerability and complex
needs.
4.
Neighbourhood & Community Support (£0.750m)
Provision of an additional ‘Communities Fund’ of
£0.300m for BAME, LGBTQ+, disability, and women’s
community and voluntary groups across the city for whom evidence
points to a disproportionate impact from Covid, including health
inequalities, financial and economic impacts, impact from home
schooling on future attainment, barriers to accessing information
and support including language barriers, digital exclusion, mental
health, and violence towards women. The funding would be managed
through a similar process to the Communities Fund. Bids would be
encouraged from a wide range of organisations to address both
individual needs for these groups, and intersectional needs. The
Equalities and Access Workstream Interim Report of August 2020
would guide the detailed planning around funding criteria.
Funding for CVS infrastructure organisations’ support to the
CVS sector to emerge from lockdown, return to face-to-face delivery
of services, providing guidance around health and safety and to
support the sector to find suitable premises to enable safe
delivery of services (£0.075m).
Support to small community based organisations in the most deprived
parts of wards of the city to support recovery from the pandemic
(£0.125m). The funding would be allocated in a similar way to
the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund. To manage the proposed grant
processes above, an additional Senior Officer post would be
required in the CETS team (£0.040m).
To provide advice and support for migrant residents whose needs
during and after the pandemic are made more complex by their
history of migration or by their immigration status by providing an
additional ‘connector’ role and support to associated
support organisations. The proposed allocation is
£0.150m.
To support the resilience and recovery of communities
disproportionately affected by Covid-19 by funding a pilot of 3
reporting centres including the Racial Harassment Forum, Rainbow
Hub, and Possability People to cover all hate crime strands, with a
need for £0.060m funding for the initial establishment and
pilot for one year.
5.
Support for food bank provision and community food provision in
the city (£0.100m)
Food banks across the city have reported both an increase in demand
but also an increase in need for capacity building and support,
particularly as the majority are facilitated by volunteers.
The city continues to maintain a focus on sustainable food
provision, healthy lifestyles and community wealth, as well as the
practice of food growing and easy access to locally grown food in
communities.
In addition, more informal groups have emerged that are focused on
sustainable food provision and community need. To ensure the
continued sustainability of community-based organisations focused
on emergency food provision, it is recommended that funding is set
aside to help build capacity and resilience for grass-roots led
organisations responding to local need in this way.
6.
Next Steps Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
(£2.043m)
This allocation was approved by Policy & Resources Committee at
its meeting on 18 March 2021.
7.
Managing the City Safely and Outdoor Events Programme 2021
(£1.010m)
This allocation was approved by the Policy & Resources
(Recovery) Sub-Committee on 29 March 2021.
8.
Private, Voluntary and Independent Early Years Providers
(£0.107m)
Early years and childcare providers have incurred several increased
costs due to the pandemic including contact tracing, cleaning and
PPE. Settings and childminders have worked extremely hard
throughout this time to ensure that their premises are safe for
children and staff, in line with DfE and Public Health guidance,
whilst continuing to offer high quality care and learning. Most
early years settings have been open to all children since January
as well as vulnerable children and children of critical care
workers and have played a key role in supporting families
throughout the pandemic and especially during the winter
lockdown.
A COMF grant allocation would help the sector to meet ongoing
additional costs and continue to support Infection Prevention and
Control measures, Covid-secure working practices and outbreak
management provision as they work through the government roadmap at
a time when many of these providers are already managing
significant losses of income.
Other authorities
are known to be making COMF funding available for this purpose,
with up to £750 available for day-care/pre-school settings,
including council-run nurseries, and up to £250 for
childminders. Maintained school nursery classes and nursery schools
will be funded from the schools’ allocation. Providers
would need to be open with children attending to be eligible.
It is proposed to provide a similar offer in Brighton and Hove
which would give rise to total costs of £0.107m if all
providers applied as follows:
·
106 Nurseries at £750 = £79,500
·
110 childminders at £250 = £27,500.
To ensure
consistency with schools the final allocations to each provider
will take account of number of funded children attending in the
spring term. It is expected that the maximum funding for each
provider will be £1,700 and minimum £100.
9.
Sport and Leisure Facilities (Freedom Leisure Contract
Extension) (£0.363m)
This allocation was also approved by the Policy & Resources
(Recovery) Sub-Committee on 29 March 2021 enabling community access
to Covid -Secure facilities.
10. Support to Schools (pupil share)
(£0.703m)
The city’s family of schools are in contact with the council
on a daily basis regarding the additional costs of managing the
pandemic, including outbreak management, and continuing to provide
safe educational settings to protect pupils and staff. Many are
struggling financially with additional costs such as:
·
PPE and cleaning materials and additional cleaning regimes ;
·
Class supply cover for absent staff;
·
Utility costs (heating ventilated classrooms, additional waste,
water, etc);
·
Management and admin for contact tracing, guidance, communications
etc;
·
Provision of remote learning
In common with other neighbouring authorities, it is proposed to
allocate a population share of COMF funding to schools which would
provide them with £0.703m to contribute to the costs of
Infection Prevention and Control measures, Covid-secure
working practices and outbreak management.
11.Underpinning Council services ensuring operational
support for delivery of Local Outbreak Plan (£0.413m)
Covid-19 has resulted in a step change in the use and reliance upon
digital methods of delivering services to residents and in the
day-to-day work of individuals and teams within the council.
To ensure that council services are fit for purpose when delivering
services that protect the most vulnerable in the pandemic,
investment is required in providing enhanced resilience to IT&D
infrastructure and supporting covid secure future ways of working.
The investment will modernise services, expanding on capacity to
meet the additional demands and build support to frontline
services. This will assist in supporting containment, enabling
self-isolation and providing timely support for those affected by
the pandemic including our most vulnerable communities.
5
PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF 2021/22 FUNDING
5.1
As noted in paragraph 9.5 below, a further allocation of Contain
Outbreak Management Funding for 2021/22 was issued on 8 April 2021.
It is proposed that the allocation of this funding is considered
later in the financial year, informed by the development of the
pandemic to ensure that the implications and impact of recovery and
progress through the roadmap are understood and the extent of the
recovery of the business and visitor economies can be seen. The
requirement for further resources for additional scaling up of test
and trace, and support for self-isolating will be monitored and
reviewed. It will also provide time to understand the success or
otherwise of the council’s actions to manage recovery, in
particular, the situation concerning homelessness and rough
sleeping where there are challenging requirements to
‘move-on’ people in hotels and other emergency and
temporary accommodation.
6
ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
6.1
The proposals set out in the report for the allocation of carried
forward 2020/21 COMF grant have been drawn up over a period of
weeks by officers from all directorates. The proposals have been
reviewed by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to ensure that
they:
a) Are
consistent with the Public Health aims of the grant which are to
tackle Covid-19 by investing in services and initiatives that will
directly or indirectly support outbreak containment;
b)
Enable the delivery of the local Covid-19 Outbreak Plan;
c)
Are consistent with the council’s Recovery & Renewal
Programme and can enhance and support the programme;
d)
Reach a wide range of settings and sectors, from education to CVS,
help to support outbreak management and address a wide range of
pandemic impacts, from homelessness to hardship, and reach people
and communities known to be at risk of Covid-19 and suffering from
specific impacts or vulnerabilities.
6.2
The proposals identified are those where ELT have identified either
the most pressing unmet needs or where funds can have, potentially,
the greatest beneficial impacts in containing Covid, managing
outbreaks, protecting the vulnerable, and supporting / ensuring
compliance with Covid-secure environments. As noted earlier, this
includes the allocation of £3.416m funding which has already
been approved by Policy & Resources Committee or its
sub-committee.
7
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION
7.1
Although no direct consultation has been undertaken, the proposals
have been drawn up by teams and services who have been and are
working very closely with CVS and statutory partners, as well as
members, throughout the pandemic and have developed a strong
understanding of where funds can help to address pandemic impacts,
ensure settings can operate safely, and where people can be
assisted to directly or indirectly contribute to outbreak
management.
8
CONCLUSION
8.1
The Contain Outbreak Management Funds can be used to support a wide
range of activities as set out in paragraph 3.3 above. Some
allocations have already been approved by Policy & Resources
Committee and this report sets out proposals to allocate the
remaining 2020/21 funding to support outbreak management.
8.2
The report recommends that allocation of the recently announced
2021/22 funding is deferred until later in the financial year when
the progression through recovery and the understanding of ongoing
impacts will be better informed.
9
FINANCIAL & OTHER IMPLICATIONS:
Financial
Implications:
9.1
In October 2020 the council received notification of Contain
Outbreak Management Funding (COMF) of £2.327m from the
Department of Health & Social Care. The grant was based on
£8 per person and awarded to support proactive containment
and intervention measures. Since then, further announcements of
£4.488m have been made for 2020/21, bringing total COMF
funding up to £6.815m
9.2
The letter from the Department for Health & Social Care states
that the ‘primary condition on this funding is agreement,
from eligible Local Authorities, to provide information regarding
how funds received from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund have
been allocated to date’. The monitoring process for this
funding is a monthly return to demonstrate how funding has been
allocated against similar headings to those outlined in paragraph
3.3.
9.3
The approved and proposed spend against the 2020/21 COMF funding is
set out in the body of the report with all funds to be spent in
2021/22. This therefore requires the carry forward of 2020/21 COMF
funds for which approval is requested in this report.
9.4
Approval of this report also delegates any further decisions on
spending or allocation of the carried forward 2020/21 COMF funding
to the Director of Public Health in consultation with the S151
Chief Finance Officer and the Chair of Policy & Resources
Committee.
Finance Officer Consulted: James
Hengeveld
Date: 14/04/21
Legal
Implications:
9.6
Section 1 of the Localism Act 2011 provides the council with a
general power of competence, allowing the council to do anything
that individuals generally may do. The Public Health (Control of
Disease) Act 1984 (as amended by the Health and Social Care Act
2008) contains powers to deal with pandemics and to manage an
infection which presents or could present “significant harm
to human health.”. These powers enable the council to
allocate the funding as proposed in this report.
9.7
It is likely that further guidance will be issued by the Department
of Health & Social Care in relation to testing and tracing and
Local Outbreaks and the council will be required to comply with
this guidance as it emerges, in addition to ensuring compliance
with the funding conditions already set out in the report.
Lawyer Consulted: Elizabeth
Culbert
Date: 09/04/21
Equalities Implications:
9.8
Covid-19 has had a greater impact on more deprived communities and
people from ethnic minorities. The proposed allocations to support
CVS organisations working with people from ethnic minorities and
other communities will help to address this and provides a local
response to some of the Public Heath England recommendations in
their health disparity report.
Sustainability Implications:
9.9
None directly.
Brexit Implications:
9.10
None directly.
Any Other
Significant Implications:
Public Health Implications:
9.11
The approved and proposed allocations in this report support the
Local Outbreak Management Plan, directly and indirectly, by
focusing allocations on homelessness, visitor, educational and
other settings as well as providing support to vulnerable or
impacted groups and communities who, without support, may otherwise
present a higher outbreak risk, for example, through homelessness
or needing to leave their homes for other reasons.
Corporate / Citywide
Implications:
9.12
The proposed allocations, including those already approved, are
expected to assist the city through the roadmap to recovery by
providing additional support across a range of priority of sectors
to safely manage their settings and the minimise outbreaks among
the residents, customers and visitors who use them. This is in
addition to allocations to support Public Health in delivering the
Local Outbreak Management Plan through support for test and trace,
and surge capacity.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Appendices:
1.
None
Background Documents
1.
None