Official Statistics

COVID Winter Grant management information: 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021

Updated 22 June 2021

Introduction

The £170 million COVID Winter Grant Scheme was made available from early December 2020 to 31 March 2021 to support those most in need across England with the cost of food, energy (heating, cooking, lighting), water bills (including sewerage) and other essentials. The scheme was extended to 16 April 2021 with a further £59.1 million of funding.

The scheme has been further extended through the COVID Local Support Grant to cover the period up to and including 20 June 2021. This publication only relates to the COVID Winter Grant from 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021. The June extension grant determination contains the allocation of the grant to individual authorities.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provided funding to county councils and unitary authorities (UAs)(including metropolitan councils and London boroughs), under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. The authorities administered the scheme to provide assistance to vulnerable families with children and other vulnerable households, particularly affected by the pandemic.

The 151 county councils and unitary authorities in England had the ability to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes including issuing grants to third parties, providing vouchers to households or making direct provision of food. County councils were encouraged to work together with district councils to provide support and ensure the funding meets its objectives.

The conditions of the scheme required authorities to meet the 80% thresholds for spend against the categories “Families with children” and “Food and other essentials” as described in the grant determination below:

“…the authority must ensure that:

  • 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
  • up to 20% of the grant is used to assist other households, and

(b) the authority must ensure that:

  • 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
  • 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.”

To allow authorities to be flexible in the administration of the scheme and for possible underspend by Third Party Organisations (TPOs) the programme allowed a 3% point tolerance in spend against thresholds before declaring any Authority spend ineligible against the requirements of the scheme. No authority failed this tolerance.

Table 1: Authority COVID Winter Grant (CWG) spend for the period 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021 and performance against spending thresholds by region

Region Grant allocation (£s) Total authority spend (£s) Number of awards % Expenditure on families with children % Expenditure on food and utilities % Spend on administration
East Midlands £18,923,501 £18,493,754 483,300 89.0% 97.1% 4.4%
East of England £21,901,986 £21,827,522 643,152 90.8% 90.7% 4.3%
London £36,893,033 £36,776,328 1,082,610 92.9% 93.1% 3.0%
North East £13,059,304 £12,498,784 328,095 95.8% 95.7% 3.4%
North West £35,799,139 £35,318,609 1,002,202 93.5% 94.0% 3.5%
South East £29,585,516 £28,785,740 875,261 90.3% 92.5% 4.6%
South West £20,478,735 £19,933,709 501,066 92.0% 93.1% 5.4%
West Midlands £26,969,935 £26,355,844 586,869 94.5% 93.1% 3.4%
Yorkshire and the Humber £25,488,849 £25,323,804 790,725 91.1% 95.3% 3.0%
Totals £229,100,000 £225,314,096 6,293,279 92.2% 93.7% 3.7%

Notes:

  • All statistics derived from individual authority’s statement of spend as of 28 May 2021 and derived as described in the scheme’s detailed guidance.
  • Authority spend has been capped to remove any contributions made by authorities using their own funds.
  • Number of awards is as reported by authorities, it may not represent the number of people helped as some may have received multiple awards.
  • Percentage expenditure on families with children is the reported spend by authorities on this category divided by total local authority spend.
  • Percentage expenditure on food and utilities is the reported spend by authorities on this category divided by total local authority spend.
  • As described above, authorities had an obligation to spend at least 80% of their awards on these two categories.
  • Percentage spend on admin: This is calculated for the period 1 December 2020 to16 April 2021 as reported admin costs / total reported spend on the COVID Winter Grant for the authority.
  • All financial figures are rounded to the nearest £.

About these statistics

The figures shown in this release are from the statement of spend (as of 28 May 2021) from the 151 English authorities which participated in the COVID Winter Grant programme. The template for returning the spend, the grant determination (describing the terms of the grant) and detailed guidance are published on GOV.UK.

The annex below shows by authority, the authority grant allocation for the period 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021, the authority’s reported spend for the same period and the percentage of the authority spend on administering the scheme.

Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:

  • trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics
  • quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics
  • value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs

The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

Trustworthiness

The figures were created following interest from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ministers and the Members of Parliament. They are being published now in order to give equal access to all those with an interest in them.

Quality

The data which underpins this information is taken directly and solely from the statements of spend returned to DWP by participating authorities and the published grant determinations for the scheme. DWP liaised with authorities to validate the returns. Analysis of the authority returns has undergone review by analysts and internal audit. The management information (MI) has also been reviewed and approved by the scheme’s project design group.

Value

Releasing this information serves the increased public interest in how authorities have used grant funding from DWP for the 2 schemes to support vulnerable families through the COVID crisis. The figures also help reduce the administrative burden of answering Parliamentary questions, Freedom of Information requests and other forms of ad hoc enquiry and serves public.

Further information and feedback

Lead Statistician: Steve Ellerd-Elliott
Analyst: Andrew Friedman

Contact DWP Press Office by phone on 0203 267 5129 if you have any questions or feedback.

Annex: Authority level management information (MI)

Table 2: Grant allocation and reported spend for the CWG by authority for the period 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021

Authority Grant allocation (£s) Spend (£s) Number of awards % Expenditure on families with children % Expenditure on food and utilities % Spend on administration
Bath and North East Somerset UA £521,136 £521,136 7,408 98.5% 89.8% 6.2%
Bedford UA £649,978 £622,912 22,354 84.4% 95.6% 1.0%
Blackburn with Darwen UA £870,533 £859,000 43,169 89.8% 92.9% 9.8%
Blackpool UA £949,701 £949,701 35,517 97.1% 97.1% 2.0%
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole UA £1,439,729 £1,439,729 75,825 89.1% 89.7% 10.8%
Bracknell Forest UA £298,119 £298,119 7,904 96.9% 99.9% 3.7%
Brighton and Hove UA £1,166,276 £1,166,276 31,055 95.7% 98.7% 0.0%
Bristol UA £2,210,763 £2,204,015 30,641 91.1% 96.1% 5.1%
Buckinghamshire UA £1,303,854 £1,303,476 43,375 85.9% 93.3% 5.8%
Cambridgeshire £1,966,878 £1,966,877 60,637 97.1% 93.8% 13.9%
Central Bedfordshire UA £791,142 £791,142 32,477 97.5% 99.6% 0.0%
Cheshire East UA £1,186,565 £1,186,565 43,420 100.0% 97.5% 10.0%
Cheshire West and Chester UA £1,247,176 £1,244,205 14,522 92.7% 89.7% 8.7%
City of Nottingham UA £1,905,943 £1,845,071 36,923 84.5% 100.0% 3.1%
Cornwall UA £2,468,306 £2,468,306 22,081 85.7% 78.9% 6.9%
Cumbria £2,016,643 £2,016,643 49,057 83.7% 90.4% 4.3%
Darlington UA £491,645 £491,645 10,618 94.5% 100.0% 0.1%
Derby City UA £1,212,195 £1,212,195 44,070 85.3% 100.0% 2.0%
Derbyshire £2,939,251 £2,840,961 84,189 86.2% 96.6% 4.0%
Devon £2,752,911 £2,388,133 59,404 97.1% 95.2% 7.1%
Dorset UA £1,242,738 £1,234,288 35,214 92.1% 93.6% 5.8%
Durham UA £2,523,486 £2,523,486 79,533 98.0% 95.0% 2.3%
East Riding of Yorkshire UA £1,111,939 £1,091,143 11,410 98.6% 93.2% 3.8%
East Sussex £2,149,404 £2,149,404 77,457 91.3% 93.0% 6.9%
Essex £5,172,337 £5,172,337 137,802 94.2% 80.3% 3.0%
Gloucestershire £2,031,813 £2,031,813 65,485 97.3% 96.9% 5.5%
Halton UA £700,727 £670,556 21,953 96.1% 94.4% 4.8%
Hampshire £3,906,427 £3,906,427 150,285 97.0% 90.6% 4.3%
Hartlepool UA £534,947 £534,947 13,463 97.4% 100.0% 0.5%
Herefordshire UA £725,008 £725,008 3,638 100.0% 100.0% 3.1%
Hertfordshire £3,360,399 £3,360,399 109,137 84.3% 95.8% 4.9%
Isle of Wight UA £615,666 £615,666 24,902 93.7% 93.5% 3.5%
Isles of Scilly £5,590 £4,880 35 100.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Kent £6,069,935 £6,069,935 178,239 86.2% 93.7% 4.6%
Kingston upon Hull UA £1,656,416 £1,656,415 91,310 86.4% 94.5% 1.5%
Lancashire £5,283,867 £5,283,867 154,804 98.6% 98.8% 3.3%
Leicester City UA £1,889,044 £1,889,044 58,877 94.1% 86.8% 2.2%
Leicestershire £1,970,479 £1,970,478 48,726 91.5% 93.6% 12.0%
Lincolnshire £2,996,426 £2,878,718 84,469 86.9% 97.5% 4.0%
Luton UA £987,438 £987,438 22,017 96.0% 98.3% 2.2%
Middlesbrough UA £888,954 £888,640 6,599 97.3% 96.5% 7.5%
Milton Keynes UA £973,259 £812,791 6,925 88.9% 91.6% 6.1%
Norfolk £3,693,351 £3,693,351 72,832 90.0% 95.6% 1.6%
North East Lincolnshire UA £846,946 £846,463 8,950 93.7% 96.1% 0.0%
North Lincolnshire UA £717,712 £717,712 22,529 95.0% 93.8% 2.7%
North Somerset UA £712,111 £704,291 17,784 90.0% 96.0% 5.0%
North Yorkshire £1,934,414 £1,934,413 50,957 99.4% 98.8% 7.2%
Northamptonshire £2,804,070 £2,754,367 24,665 93.0% 100.0% 2.1%
Northumberland UA £1,337,560 £1,337,560 34,052 92.0% 97.5% 5.8%
Nottinghamshire £3,121,162 £3,046,260 100,389 89.5% 100.0% 4.4%
Oxfordshire £1,843,455 £1,843,455 57,423 91.0% 96.3% 2.1%
Peterborough UA £1,002,193 £1,002,193 53,453 99.3% 99.9% 12.5%
Plymouth UA £1,247,976 £1,247,976 33,613 87.3% 86.6% 5.3%
Portsmouth UA £1,031,806 £1,031,806 19,504 93.2% 85.5% 5.5%
Reading UA £625,979 £581,587 38,728 95.4% 88.4% 5.3%
Redcar and Cleveland UA £704,521 £704,521 3,912 93.3% 80.2% 5.5%
Rutland UA £84,931 £56,660 992 93.8% 99.9% 8.7%
Shropshire UA £1,134,226 £1,040,620 8,307 81.4% 80.0% 4.7%
Slough UA £640,301 £640,301 18,086 89.8% 82.6% 2.4%
Somerset £2,082,367 £2,082,300 59,200 98.3% 100.0% 0.0%
South Gloucestershire UA £767,028 £766,867 17,406 82.0% 89.0% 0.1%
Southampton UA £1,214,050 £1,093,920 44,477 94.4% 96.6% 10.7%
Southend-on-Sea UA £773,132 £773,130 16,357 88.4% 100.0% 7.0%
Staffordshire £2,993,694 £2,993,694 81,632 95.6% 99.2% 6.1%
Stockton-on-Tees UA £915,715 £915,714 16,346 100.0% 99.8% 3.2%
Stoke-on-Trent UA £1,460,280 £1,460,280 53,126 90.6% 90.4% 3.2%
Suffolk £2,800,313 £2,800,313 95,092 82.8% 82.8% 1.5%
Surrey £2,865,625 £2,835,665 77,302 88.7% 92.2% 0.5%
Swindon UA £828,716 £678,679 36,660 85.9% 100.0% 3.4%
Telford and the Wrekin UA £821,201 £821,201 28,307 100.0% 97.6% 0.0%
The Medway Towns UA £1,224,467 £780,318 19,973 93.0% 85.6% 6.4%
Thurrock UA £704,825 £657,430 20,994 96.4% 91.8% 1.7%
Torbay UA £674,449 £668,195 12,748 96.9% 100.0% 0.0%
Warrington UA £783,849 £781,552 14,176 99.0% 80.0% 0.0%
Warwickshire £1,892,919 £1,892,919 51,327 96.7% 95.0% 0.9%
West Berkshire UA £375,843 £375,843 11,494 82.3% 80.9% 0.4%
West Sussex £2,681,268 £2,681,012 59,033 84.3% 93.0% 7.1%
Wiltshire UA £1,493,103 £1,493,103 27,562 90.7% 96.9% 5.5%
Windsor and Maidenhead UA £318,524 £318,481 4,830 98.4% 99.2% 1.3%
Wokingham UA £281,258 £281,258 4,269 87.6% 97.7% 1.0%
Worcestershire £2,166,020 £2,166,020 47,017 92.8% 90.8% 6.2%
York UA £561,605 £560,247 1,996 89.3% 98.5% 5.4%
Bolton £1,497,077 £1,497,077 42,876 96.0% 97.8% 0.3%
Bury £834,758 £834,758 20,550 85.8% 94.9% 3.1%
Manchester £3,478,840 £3,478,840 118,192 98.8% 94.8% 1.4%
Oldham £1,313,537 £1,313,537 32,338 98.8% 96.4% 1.7%
Rochdale £1,262,632 £1,262,632 23,746 87.7% 98.2% 3.5%
Salford £1,468,064 £1,277,462 41,414 98.5% 93.9% 4.1%
Stockport £1,169,432 £1,169,432 29,146 96.3% 97.6% 5.3%
Tameside £1,205,625 £1,205,570 31,151 95.3% 100.0% 0.0%
Trafford £792,746 £792,746 22,624 93.2% 96.0% 5.1%
Wigan £1,515,480 £1,503,559 21,695 92.1% 92.0% 5.9%
Knowsley £998,245 £998,245 34,621 88.3% 86.2% 5.2%
Liverpool £3,286,613 £3,159,394 85,192 86.4% 91.3% 0.9%
St Helens £965,350 £965,350 24,338 100.0% 99.1% 0.6%
Sefton £1,321,329 £1,217,570 37,913 92.1% 80.9% 5.4%
Wirral £1,650,351 £1,650,351 59,788 77.5% 88.3% 2.3%
Barnsley £1,275,024 £1,275,024 46,326 98.9% 100.0% 2.5%
Doncaster £1,621,905 £1,621,905 60,372 95.3% 90.1% 2.0%
Rotherham £1,357,613 £1,357,613 32,832 91.8% 86.1% 1.2%
Sheffield £2,817,018 £2,817,018 100,170 88.0% 100.0% 1.9%
Gateshead £997,729 £997,729 29,664 92.5% 100.0% 3.7%
Newcastle upon Tyne £1,546,516 £1,420,676 44,895 100.0% 100.0% 4.3%
North Tyneside £869,216 £844,905 14,475 88.0% 79.7% 0.0%
South Tyneside £804,521 £804,521 33,950 100.0% 100.0% 4.9%
Sunderland £1,444,494 £1,034,440 40,588 91.8% 97.7% 0.9%
Birmingham £6,992,853 £6,544,883 51,238 95.7% 96.9% 1.7%
Coventry £1,741,985 £1,723,836 60,978 90.5% 84.7% 3.8%
Dudley £1,425,951 £1,371,586 43,084 95.2% 96.3% 0.3%
Sandwell £1,892,914 £1,892,914 36,519 96.6% 80.2% 0.3%
Solihull £762,550 £762,550 9,422 91.1% 95.0% 8.2%
Walsall £1,529,237 £1,529,237 65,213 99.1% 100.0% 7.7%
Wolverhampton £1,431,097 £1,431,097 47,061 91.6% 86.4% 2.8%
Bradford £3,073,137 £3,073,137 62,675 84.5% 96.5% 1.0%
Calderdale £989,188 £846,782 16,927 97.3% 97.4% 1.8%
Kirklees £2,004,990 £2,004,990 66,609 87.3% 93.5% 4.0%
Leeds £3,824,025 £3,824,025 177,973 86.8% 99.4% 4.5%
Wakefield £1,696,917 £1,696,917 39,688 98.1% 83.8% 2.9%
City of London £27,177 £18,159 107 90.9% 100.0% 0.0%
Camden £1,055,536 £1,055,536 29,197 96.9% 97.9% 4.8%
Greenwich £1,304,090 £1,304,090 23,884 92.3% 95.3% 1.8%
Hackney £1,552,493 £1,552,492 21,716 99.5% 99.1% 4.5%
Hammersmith and Fulham £788,543 £788,543 32,694 93.5% 94.8% 0.6%
Islington £1,182,251 £1,181,982 44,400 86.2% 86.3% 3.8%
Kensington and Chelsea £635,907 £635,907 85,354 81.8% 97.1% 3.5%
Lambeth £1,507,269 £1,505,332 57,227 91.4% 93.0% 4.4%
Lewisham £1,458,839 £1,458,838 11,728 91.3% 100.0% 0.0%
Southwark £1,498,122 £1,498,122 59,412 100.0% 100.0% 4.7%
Tower Hamlets £1,621,260 £1,621,260 14,319 89.4% 94.2% 5.0%
Wandsworth £1,126,912 £1,126,912 12,397 87.2% 79.6% 2.9%
Westminster £1,032,813 £1,032,813 12,301 94.4% 100.0% 0.8%
Barking and Dagenham £1,172,556 £1,172,556 11,923 86.1% 82.7% 0.1%
Barnet £1,330,074 £1,330,074 13,871 95.2% 98.7% 2.2%
Bexley £835,168 £832,130 26,102 93.2% 100.0% 2.5%
Brent £1,539,574 £1,493,754 65,073 97.2% 100.0% 3.3%
Bromley £1,015,939 £972,975 18,790 91.8% 77.3% 2.9%
Croydon £1,626,347 £1,626,346 50,375 93.8% 97.2% 2.2%
Ealing £1,440,611 £1,440,610 33,056 90.4% 94.0% 2.4%
Enfield £1,549,178 £1,549,178 43,893 97.1% 84.2% 1.8%
Haringey £1,329,224 £1,329,224 38,998 86.9% 94.5% 4.9%
Harrow £793,705 £793,704 30,904 100.0% 100.0% 2.1%
Havering £895,803 £895,803 12,182 84.2% 88.6% 10.9%
Hillingdon £1,120,320 £1,120,320 22,628 99.1% 84.2% 4.6%
Hounslow £1,109,622 £1,109,622 35,030 95.9% 100.0% 0.2%
Kingston upon Thames £463,024 £463,023 9,495 94.0% 95.5% 6.9%
Merton £641,740 £641,740 7,650 96.3% 98.4% 0.6%
Newham £1,824,939 £1,824,939 180,379 93.5% 91.3% 5.0%
Redbridge £1,063,160 £1,062,246 34,146 97.5% 82.9% 0.1%
Richmond upon Thames £453,965 £453,964 8,233 92.8% 94.1% 1.8%
Sutton £622,608 £622,608 19,180 80.0% 99.9% 0.0%
Waltham Forest £1,274,264 £1,261,524 15,967 91.0% 81.4% 0.0%
England £229,100,000 £225,314,096 6,293,279 92.2% 93.7% 3.66%

Notes:

  • Total CWG awarded (£s), this is the total award made to authorities as described in the Grant Determinations for the initial scheme 1 December 2020 to 31 March 2021 and its extension to 16 April 2021.
  • All spend statistics derived from Individual Authority’s Statement of spend as of 28 May 2021 and as described in the scheme’s detailed guidance.
  • Authority spend has been capped to remove any contributions made by authorities using their own funds.
  • Number of awards is as reported by authorities, it may not represent the number of people helped as some may have received multiple awards.
  • Percentage expenditure on families with children is the reported spend by authorities on this category divided by total local authority spend.
  • Percentage expenditure on food and utilities is the reported spend by authorities on this category divided by total local authority spend.
  • Percentage spend on admin: This is calculated for the period 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021 as reported admin costs / total reported spend on the COVID Winter Grant for the authority.
  • All financial figures are rounded to the nearest £.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-340-5