Hounslow Council Gets Emergency Funding For COVID-19


Help for adult and child social care, the homeless people and vulnerable residents

Hounslow House
Hounslow House

Hounslow Council has established a COVID-19 Emergency Reserve of £6.6m, funded by the allocation from the government towards extra pressures placed on local authorities as a result of the impact of the coronavirus.

The Council has this week set up a Community Hub to support vulnerable residents and has announced that a temporary resident’s permit is available for 4 months at a pro-rata cost of £27. More measures will soon be in place for vulnerable residents in the borough (see below)

This Community Hub – brings together electronic information, a dedicated email (hub@hounslow.gov.uk) and contact number (020 8583 49000) for concerned residents, and a physical centre where assistance can be provided to those who need it most.

Parking enforcement is continuing but a dispensation for frontline emergency and health service staff to park for free near their place of work has been introduced.

The operational parking permit scheme to private care workers no longer able to use public transport, is extended to be provided at no cost for 6 months.

The Council will also pilot a community ‘stop & shop’ scheme for volunteers supporting vulnerable and self-isolating people, providing 30mins free parking in parking bays.

The initial allocations from the reserve will be to support activity in the areas
of: adult social care and hospital discharges; children’s social care; homelessness & rough sleepers; leisure services; and the development of a Community Hub to support extremely vulnerable residents.

The Council will also receive separate funding to offset the impact of reduced business rates income and the cost of reissuing business rates bills to reflect the reliefs that are being granted to different types of businesses.

You can read more here about how the Council intends to support the borough during the current crisis.

A report on how the emergency funding is to be allocated to the various sectors has been prepared and is expected to receive approval by the Lead Member, Cllr Steve Curran as a Cabinet Single Member decision.

March 29, 2020