Self-isolating older and vulnerable residents are at risk of being exploited by strangers and cold callers posing as helpful neighbours in order to scam them, councils up and down the country have been warning.
As first was going to press, councils were being asked by government to urgently support rough sleepers and vulnerable homeless people into accommodation – even as many councils were continuing to experience issues with placing homeless households in hotels and B&Bs.
Children’s Minister Vicky Ford has written to councils and other partners, setting out the Government’s plans to ensure support can continue to be provided to children and young people with SEND following the closure of the UK’s schools.
Patients who no longer need urgent hospital treatment will be helped to return home, making at least 30,000 beds available during the coronavirus outbreak, after councils received £1.6 billion in extra funding.
An extra £30 billion of public spending was announced in last month’s Budget – much of it aimed at local priorities including homes, roads, digital connectivity, flood resilience and devolution.
Tenants have received discounts of nearly £5 billion to help purchase their council homes under the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme since the size of the discount was increased in April 2012, according to new LGA analysis.
The Government has issued guidance for local authorities and local resilience forums on the system to support those who are medically extremely vulnerable to coronavirus.
The Government is consulting on plans to make it illegal to put children in care aged under 16 in unregulated accommodation, amid concerns that some are being left at risk of exploitation.
The Government has launched a consultation over its First Homes scheme, which proposes to cut the cost of some new homes by a third for first-time buyers.
Retailers, including online businesses, need to stop selling knives by default to help tackle the knife-crime epidemic, the LGA has said.