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