Rotherham Council is setting out plans for a comprehensive £5m Covid recovery package, aimed at supporting people most impacted by the pandemic to get back on their feet.
The wide ranging proposals include new measures to support children and young people with mental health and catching-up with lost learning, adults who are shielding or isolating, reskilling people whose jobs have been impacted and help for the homeless.
The Council’s Cabinet will meet to discuss the plans on 16 August. You can view the full report here.
More than 836 people have died in Rotherham as a result of Covid, there have been over 22,000 infections and 2,740 people hospitalised. And the effect of the pandemic has gone much further by impacting the jobs, health and education of everyone – with the most vulnerable and least resilient suffering the greatest hit.
Nearly 44,000 workers in Rotherham have been furloughed during the pandemic, with some children losing at least 19 weeks of face-to-face education. The Council has distributed more than 1,500 emergency food parcels since the start of the pandemic through the Community Hub. Request support here.
Councillor Chris Read, Leader of Rotherham Council, said: “The Covid pandemic is not over yet but we know that even when it is, the damage it has wreaked will be felt by the people of Rotherham for many years to come – whether that’s through the loss of loved ones, impact on physical and mental health, financial problems, redundancy or impact on life chances.
“Phase one of our recovery plan for Rotherham aims to provide the support many people of all ages will need to reset, recover and restart over the next seven months. With so many people impacted by Covid, we have to be careful to target it at people with the most pressing needs – including children and young people, homeless people, people who care for others, people who have lost their jobs and people suffering mental health problems.
“This is the start of a long road to recovery and there is still more we have to do – as a Council and a community – to deal with the on-going impact and legacy of Covid-19 on our residents.”
The package of measures being set out in the report includes:
- The retention of the existing Covid-19 Team until March 2022
- Targeted support for children with special educational needs, young carers and those from BAME backgrounds
- Financial support for adults who need to self-isolate
- Mental health support for people suffering loneliness and needing help to link back into the community
- Additional help for stressed unpaid carers of adults and children with disabilities
- Support for people made redundant to reskill to improve employment chances
- Providing wifi access to digitally disadvantaged communities
- Additional resources to support existing and new homeless people
If approved, the funding would be provided from the Community Outbreak Management Fund (COMF). This would bring the Council’s total Covid response spend through COMF in 2020/21 and 2021/22 to more than £10m.