Lambeth Council says unprecedented challenges following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic will continue to affect the Council in the short and medium term a report to senior councillors has revealed. 

Lambeth Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy paints an uncertain future for local government finance where, after the initial public health response and economic measures taken to support local business and the voluntary sector in Lambeth following national restrictions in March 2020, the full effects of the pandemic are still to be entirely felt.

Developments including the emergence of new Variants of Concern (VoC), the ending of the furlough scheme along with uncertainty about the future of central government support and the national management of the pandemic have meant that the impact on grant funding for essential public services and income sources for local government is bleak.

The existing pressures placed on the council’s services, in areas such as temporary accommodation, homelessness prevention, and the increasing demand and costs of social care, have been added to by the pandemic and the government restrictions that have been put in place over the past 16 months.

You can read more on the Love Lambeth website here.