Scrutiny considers how Covid funding supported care

How the county council channelled Government Covid funding to support adult social care in Norfolk and the impact it had will be considered by the scrutiny committee this month.

A report to the scrutiny committee says the county council received £55.5 million of additional, one-off funding during the pandemic.

Chair of the scrutiny committee, Councillor Steve Morphew, said: "'Quite rightly, a lot of public money was spent supporting the care sector during the pandemic. It is right we ask how it was spent, how it has been accounted for, whether it achieved the purposes for which it was intended and what lessons we can learn for the future.

"Quality of care, the way care is provided and workforce issues - shortage of staff and their pay and conditions, have all been in the spotlight recently. In Norfolk, care is a huge issue, so it is timely that the Scrutiny Committee tries to get answers to how these are being influenced by what the past two years have shown us."

The report says that the funding was primary to help meet the costs of new Government legislation, guidance and the impact of the pandemic on the sector.

Any unspent grant had to be returned to the government. In Norfolk, £201,000 has been returned to date. Covid funding ceased at the end of March this year.

The scrutiny committee will consider the report when it meets at 10am on Wednesday, 18 May.

Watch the meeting, live or afterwards and read the report. (opens new window)

Members of the public can submit questions to the meeting, by contacting committees@norfolk.gov.uk by 5pm on Thursday 12 May.

See guidance on submitting a public question.