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The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (鈥渢he Secretary of State鈥�), 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 COVID Winter Grant Scheme Determination 2020 No 31/5256.

Purpose of the grant

2. The purpose of the grant is to provide support to upper tier local authorities in England for expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred by them in accordance with the grant conditions to provide support over the winter to children and households who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, poverty, where they are impacted by the ongoing public health emergency and where alternative sources of assistance may be unavailable.

Determination

3. The Secretary of State determines as set out in Annex A, the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid.

Grant conditions

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

Treasury consent

5) Before making this determination in relation to the upper tier local authorities in England, the Secretary of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:

Donna Ward
A senior civil servant within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Annex A: Funding levels per county council or unitary authority

County council or unitary authority (UA)	DWP allocation of 拢170 million
Barking and Dagenham London Borough	拢870,076.68
Barnet London Borough	拢986,960.35
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council	拢946,111.32
Bath and North East Somerset Council	拢386,700.64
Bedford UA	拢482,305.73
Bexley London Borough	拢619,722.83
Birmingham City Council	拢5,188,935.15
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council	拢645,965.10
Blackpool Borough Council	拢704,710.72
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,110,882.11
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council	拢1,068,327.58
Bracknell Forest Borough Council	拢221,214.27
Brent London Borough	拢1,142,416.48
Brighton and Hove Council	拢865,416.71
Bristol Council	拢1,640,461.40
Bromley London Borough	拢753,861.37
Buckinghamshire County Council	拢967,503.82
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council	拢619,418.58
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council	拢734,010.82
Cambridgeshire County Council	拢1,459,490.26
Camden London Borough	拢783,243.59
Central Bedfordshire UA	拢587,054.00
Cheshire East UA	拢880,471.92
Cheshire West and Chester UA	拢925,446.97
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council	拢2,280,372.57
City of London	拢20,166.03
City of York Council	拢416,729.66
Cornwall County UA	拢1,831,567.30
County of Herefordshire District Council	拢537,980.55
Coventry City Council	拢1,292,612.14
Croydon London Borough	拢1,206,805.20
Cumbria County Council	拢1,496,417.79
Darlington Borough Council	拢364,817.20
Derby City Council	拢899,489.62
Derbyshire County Council	拢2,181,024.15
Devon County Council	拢2,042,754.05
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,203,509.07
Dorset Council	拢922,153.80
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,058,104.52
Durham County UA	拢1,872,512.86
Ealing London Borough	拢1,068,982.09
East Riding of Yorkshire Council	拢825,096.34
East Sussex County Council	拢1,594,930.86
Enfield London Borough	拢1,149,542.86
Essex County Council	拢3,838,050.28
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council	拢740,348.86
Gloucestershire County Council	拢1,507,674.65
Greenwich London Borough	拢967,678.82
Hackney London Borough	拢1,152,002.41
Halton Borough Council	拢519,963.33
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough	拢585,126.11
Hampshire County Council	拢2,898,701.72
Haringey London Borough	拢986,329.83
Harrow London Borough	拢588,955.86
Hartlepool Council	拢396,948.59
Havering London Borough	拢664,716.69
Hertfordshire County Council	拢2,493,530.80
Hillingdon London Borough	拢831,315.79
Hounslow London Borough	拢823,377.35
Isle of Wight Council	拢456,845.34
Isles of Scilly Council	拢4,147.67
Islington London Borough	拢877,270.22
Kensington and Chelsea Royal Borough	拢471,864.58
Kent County Council	拢4,504,098.51
Kingston Upon Hull City Council	拢1,229,116.79
Kingston upon Thames Royal Borough	拢343,579.32
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,487,770.76
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council	拢740,731.55
Lambeth London Borough	拢1,118,444.74
Lancashire County Council	拢3,920,808.87
Leeds City Council	拢2,837,556.77
Leicester City Council	拢1,401,735.27
Leicestershire County Council	拢1,462,162.43
Lewisham London Borough	拢1,082,507.93
Lincolnshire County Council	拢2,223,450.43
Liverpool City Council	拢2,438,778.60
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames	拢336,857.43
Luton Borough Council	拢732,712.95
Manchester City Council	拢2,581,417.35
Medway Borough Council	拢908,596.17
Merton London Borough	拢476,193.25
Middlesbrough Borough	拢659,634.41
Milton Keynes Council	拢722,191.40
Newcastle upon Tyne Metropolitan District Council	拢1,147,567.52
Newham London Borough	拢1,354,166.89
Norfolk County Council	拢2,740,592.35
North East Lincolnshire Council	拢628,462.94
North Lincolnshire Council	拢532,566.93
North Somerset Council	拢528,410.63
North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	拢644,988.11
North Yorkshire County Council	拢1,435,400.85
Northamptonshire County Council	拢2,080,715.35
Northumberland County UA	拢992,515.33
Nottingham City Council	拢1,414,274.85
Nottinghamshire County Council	拢2,316,008.18
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council	拢974,688.98
Oxfordshire	拢1,367,906.39
Peterborough City Council	拢743,661.56
Plymouth City Council	拢926,040.55
Portsmouth City Council	拢765,635.46
Reading Borough Council	拢464,497.68
Redbridge London Borough	拢788,900.75
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council	拢522,778.70
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council	拢936,916.05
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,007,395.16
Rutland County Council District Council	拢63,022.00
Salford Metropolitan District Council	拢1,089,353.76
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,404,606.44
Sefton	拢980,471.32
Sheffield City Council	拢2,090,323.22
Shropshire County UA	拢841,634.07
Slough Borough Council	拢475,125.36
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council	拢565,838.18
Somerset County Council	拢1,545,187.24
South Gloucestershire Council	拢569,161.01
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	拢596,981.79
Southampton City Council	拢900,866.24
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council	拢573,689.90
Southwark London Borough	拢1,111,657.80
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council	拢716,322.51
Staffordshire County Council	拢2,221,422.84
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council	拢867,758.09
Stockton-On-Tees Borough Council	拢679,491.40
Stoke-on-Trent City Council	拢1,083,577.42
Suffolk County Council	拢2,077,927.29
Sunderland City Council	拢1,071,863.77
Surrey County Council	拢2,126,391.50
Sutton London Borough	拢461,996.24
Swindon Borough Council	拢614,935.46
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council	拢894,614.60
Telford and Wrekin Council	拢609,359.45
Thurrock Council	拢523,003.90
Torbay Borough Council	拢500,463.83
Tower Hamlets London Borough	拢1,203,030.43
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council	拢588,244.62
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council	拢1,259,170.55
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,134,745.58
Waltham Forest London Borough	拢945,547.02
Wandsworth London Borough	拢836,207.30
Warrington Borough Council	拢581,642.70
Warwickshire County Council	拢1,404,610.50
West Berkshire District Council	拢278,888.42
West Sussex County Council	拢1,989,591.80
Westminster City Council	拢766,382.48
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,124,537.72
Wiltshire County UA	拢1,107,932.98
Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough Council	拢236,355.75
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,224,616.93
Wokingham District Council	拢208,703.00
Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council	拢1,061,922.62
Worcestershire County Council	拢1,607,260.87
Total	拢170,000,000

Annex B: COVID Winter Grant Scheme Determination 2020 grant conditions

1. In this Annex and Annex C:

• 鈥榯he Scheme鈥� means the use by the authority of as much of the grant money identified in Annex A as it deems necessary to provide support over the winter to children and households who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, poverty, where they are impacted by the ongoing public health emergency, and where alternative sources of assistance may be unavailable
• 鈥榯he Department鈥� means the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• 鈥榯he authority鈥� means any local authority listed in Annex A
• 鈥榯he Secretary of State鈥� means the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
• 鈥榯he period鈥� means the period of time from 1 December 2020 to 31 March 2021

2. The grant is only paid to the authority to support eligible expenditure (see paragraphs 4 to 7 below).

3. The authority must have regard to any guidance issued by the Department or sources of information and data available to it that may assist in the decision-making regarding the Scheme.

Eligible expenditure

4. Eligible expenditure means payments made, or committed to, by the authority or any person acting on behalf of the authority, during the period, under the Scheme.

5. Unless the Secretary of State decides otherwise (for all authorities or any one authority), the authority must determine individual eligibility in its area for assistance under the Scheme and the means by which assistance will be provided (whether directly by the authority or through a third party) and target its support as follows:

(a) the authority must ensure that:

⁽ⁱ⁾ at least 80% of the grant is allocated to support households that include:

• a person who will be under the age of 19 as at 31 March 2021, or

• a person aged 19 or over in respect of whom a child-related benefit is paid or free school meals are provided during the period, and

⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ up to 20% of the grant is used to assist other households, and

(b) the authority must ensure that:

⁽ⁱ⁾ at least 80% of the grant is allocated to support with food, energy costs (for heating, lighting and cooking) and water costs (for household purposes, including sewerage), and

⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ up to 20% of the grant is allocated to support with other essential expenditure related to food, heating, lighting, cooking, water and sewerage needs, but excluding rent or other housing costs.

6. If the authority or any third party incurs any of the following costs, they must be excluded from eligible expenditure:

a) contributions in kind,

b) payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature,

c) depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets,

d) input VAT reclaimable from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC),

e) interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases,

f) gifts, other than promotional items with a value of no more than 拢10 in a year to any one person,

g) entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations), or

h) statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties.

and, for the avoidance of doubt, the exclusions at a) and f) above do not apply to the provision of direct assistance, including food, to the intended eligible beneficiaries of the Scheme.

7. The authority must not deliberately incur liabilities for eligible expenditure before there is an operational need for it to do so.

Payment arrangements

8. The grant will be paid according to the profile attached at Annex C.

9. If at any time the authority becomes aware that the above profile no longer reflects the pattern of eligible expenditure during the period, the authority must inform the Department as soon as possible. The Secretary of State reserves the right to alter the timing or amount of grant payments accordingly.

Statement of Grant Usage

1. The authority must prepare a Statement of Grant Usage:

a) from the start of the period to 31 January 2021 inclusive to be submitted to the Department on or before 14 February 2021, and

b) for the remainder of the period to be submitted to the Department on or before 21 April 2021.

The Statement of Grant Usage must be in the form agreed between the authority and the Department and must provide details of eligible expenditure in the relevant period. The Statement of Grant Usage must be certified by the authority鈥檚 Section 151 officer, to the best of the officer鈥檚 knowledge, that the amounts shown on the statement are all eligible expenditure and that the grant has been used for the purposes intended.

11. If the Statement of Grant Usage identifies any overpayment of grant, the authority must, unless offset by the Department in the next payment, repay this amount within 30 days of being asked by the Department.

12. The Secretary of State may at any time require a further external validation to be carried out by officers of the Department or an appropriately qualified independent accountant or auditor, on the use of the grant.

Progress report and management information return

13. The authority must provide a progress report and management information return with each Statement of Grant Usage in relation to the time periods, and on or before the dates, specified in paragraph 10 in accordance with the guidance issued by the Department.

Financial management

14. The authority must maintain a sound system of internal financial controls.

15. If the authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this Determination, it must notify the Department immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep the Department informed about the progress of the investigation. For these purposes 鈥榝inancial irregularity鈥� includes fraud or other impropriety, mismanagement, and the use of grant for purposes other than those for which it was provided.

Records to be kept

16. The authority must maintain reliable, accessible and up to date accounting records with an adequate audit trail for all expenditure funded by grant monies under this Determination.

17. The authority and any person acting on behalf of the authority must allow:

a) the Comptroller and Auditor General or appointed representatives, or

b) the Secretary of State or appointed representatives,

free access at all reasonable times to all documents (including computerised documents and data) and other information as are connected to the grant payable under this Determination, or to the purposes for which grant was used, subject to the provisions in paragraph 18.

18. The documents, data and information referred to in paragraph 17 are such which the Secretary of State or the Comptroller and Auditor General may reasonably require for the purposes of 鈥榮pot checking鈥� administrative costs or significant amounts paid under the Scheme or a financial audit of any department or other public body or for carrying out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any department or other public body has used its resources. The authority must provide such further explanations as are reasonably required for these purposes.

19. Paragraphs 17 and 18 do not constitute a requirement for the examination, certification or inspection of the accounts of the Authority by the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 6(3) of the National Audit Act 1983. The Secretary of State and Comptroller and Auditor General will seek access in a measured manner to minimise any burden on the authority and will avoid duplication of effort by seeking and sharing information with local auditors.

Breach of conditions and recovery of grant

20. If the authority fails to comply with any of these conditions, or if any overpayment is made under this grant or any amount is paid in error, or if any of the events set out in paragraph 21 occurs, the Secretary of State may reduce, suspend or withhold grant payments or require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant monies paid, as may be determined by the Secretary of State and notified in writing to the authority. Such sum as has been notified will immediately become repayable to the Secretary of State who may set off the sum against any future amount due to the authority from central government.

21. The events referred to in paragraph 20 are:

a) the authority purports to transfer or assign any rights, interests or obligations arising under this Determination without the prior agreement of the Secretary of State,

b) any information provided in any application for grant monies payable under this Determination, or in any subsequent supporting correspondence is found to be significantly incorrect or incomplete in the opinion of the Secretary of State,

c) it appears to the Secretary of State that other circumstances have arisen or events have occurred that are likely to significantly affect the authority鈥檚 ability to deliver the Scheme,

d) the authority鈥檚 Section 151 officer is unable to provide reasonable assurance that the Statement of Grant Usage, in all material respects, fairly presents the eligible expenditure in the period in accordance with the definitions and conditions in this Determination, or

e) the authority fails to provide the Statement of Grant Usage and a progress report and management information return by the date(s) specified in paragraph 10.

Annex C: Payment arrangements

The payments will be made to the authority in three instalments as follows:

a) 50% at the start of the period

b) 25% at the end of February 2021 subject to any offsetting in accordance with paragraph 20 of Annex B following receipt of the first Statement of Grant Usage and progress report and management information return, and

c) 25% in April or May 2021 subject to any offsetting in accordance with paragraph 20 of Annex B following receipt of the second Statement of Grant Usage and progress report and management information return.