Portsmouth council to take £1.9m from projects and £10m from reserves to cover Covid costs

Portsmouth City Council has detailed changes to its budget for 2020/21 as a worst-case-scenario prediction estimated the authority will have spent and lost a combined total of up to £32m over the outbreak.

Following four tranches of Covid recover-specific government funding amounting to £19.4m, this leaves a potential black hole of around £12m.

It is proposed £1.9m will be taken from previously approved capital schemes - some of which have actually underspent - including £75,000 for improvements to the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth and £600,000 for adaptations to carers homes.

A further £5m will come from the council's contingency fund and another £5m from its medium term resources strategy, which is used for spend to save initiatives and redundancy pay.

Council leader, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, believed Westminster should compensate councils for all costs during the pandemic. He said: 'All councils are feeling the pinch because the government didn't stick to its word - that it would fund everything. That's £12m we could have spent over the years to support projects in Portsmouth.

'We can look at seeing if we can do the capital projects next year but will have to find more money. The only way to balance the books was to take that money out to pay for Covid costs.

'We have had to make difficult decisions. That money could have been spent on work at the port or more school places in the future.'

Funding pressures faced by the council during the pandemic include increased spending on things such as additional care home staffing, PPE and food deliveries for the vulnerable, as well as income loss such as flexible payment for council tax and suspended parking charges.

However, Conservative deputy leader for Portsmouth, Cllr Luke Stubbs, said the council needed to be more 'proactive'.

'It's not just down to Covid that we have budget pressures,' he said.

‘It's also things like losing the Spinnaker Tower deal and continued overspends in children and adult services - it’s a complicated picture.

‘We're in the situation not just because of Covid but the financial issues of the council not staying in budget and no longer focusing on income generation.

‘All we're hearing is “the government should print more money” but how about being proactive and finding ways to make the budget work.’

He added that other major council costs such as home to school transport had actually reduced during the pandemic.

The budget report will be discussed during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, December 1.

It is thought neighbouring authority Hampshire County Council will face a loss of £39.6m for this financial year.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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