Ní Chuilín welcomes further funding for councils

Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has welcomed the Executive’s allocation of a further £15m to councils bringing the total since the start of the COVID-19 crisis to over £75m.

Ní Chuilín welcomes further funding for councils

It follows a bid from the Communities Minister to ensure councils can continue to positively contribute to the response to and recovery from COVID-19.

Minister Ní Chuilín said:

“Councils have been and will continue to be at the forefront of delivering key local public services during this extremely difficult time.

“This further funding that has been secured will support the councils given the financial losses they are experiencing arising from the closure or reduced capacity of leisure centres and reduced income from the likes of planning and building control.

“£75m to date is a significant cash injection and demonstrates the Executive’s continued commitment to our partners in local government to help them alleviate their financial pressures.”

Councils will also be able to avail of the Job Support Scheme from 1 November 2020 as partially publicly funded organisations, such as Councils, are eligible for this support where their private revenues have been disrupted.  The Job Support Scheme will replace the Furlough scheme (which councils could also avail of) which ends on 31 October 2020.

The Minister continued:

“I very much welcome this further funding for councils, which along with the availability of the Job Support Scheme will help to protect jobs and services.”

Notes to editors: 

1. Funding of £40m and £20.3m was previously announced on 24 September 2020 and 19 May 2020 respectively.
2. The allocation to each council area will be confirmed as soon as possible.
3. Media enquiries to DFC Press Office on email press.office@communities-ni.gov.uk. 
4. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.
5. Follow us on twitter @CommunitiesNI

Share this page