More than 6 million awards made under Covid Winter Grant Scheme in period up to 16 April 2021

New DWP statistics also show that total amount spent was more than £225 million across England as a whole, with 92 per cent of expenditure going to families with children

More than 6 million awards were made under the Covid Winter Grant Scheme in the period up to 16 April 2021, according to new DWP statistics.

Introducing the Covid Winter Grant management information: 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021, published today, the DWP says that -

'The £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme was made available from early December 2020 to 31 March 2021 to support those most in need across England with the cost of food, energy (heating, cooking, lighting), water bills (including sewerage) and other essentials. The scheme was extended to 16 April 2021 with a further £59.1 million of funding.

The scheme has been further extended through the COVID Local Support Grant to cover the period up to and including 20 June 2021. This publication only relates to the Covid Winter Grant from 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021.'

The DWP goes on to set out statistics on spending across England by region and local authority for the period from 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021, including that for England as a whole -

• the total grant allocation was £229,100,000;
• the total amount spent by local authorities was £225,314,096;
• the total number of awards was 6,293,279;
• 92.2 per cent of expenditure was on families with children;
• 93.7 per cent of expenditure was on food and utilities; and
• 3.7 per cent of expenditure was on administration.

The Covid Winter Grant management information: 1 December 2020 to 16 April 2021 is available from gov.uk