A DRAMATIC drop in council tax income during the coronavirus pandemic has left authorities running the Barrow area facing a funding shortfall of more than £400,000 new figures reveal.

The majority of that loss would be Cumbria County Council who take the largest proportion of council tax with Barrow Council only taking a small cut.

Councils across England are facing a combined deficit of more than half a billion pounds for the 2020-21 financial year, after council tax intake plummeted in the majority of areas.

Data from the Ministry of Housing, Local Government and Communities shows Barrow-in-Furness council will have to address an estimated shortfall of £442,864.

Councillor Ann Thomson, the leader of Barrow Borough Council, said: "The Covid pandemic of the last year has caused and in many cases exacerbated real hardship within our communities which was predicted to have an impact upon the amount of council tax collected in the 2020/21 year.

"Barrow Borough Council's share of the predicted precept shortfall in this case is £56,000.

"This was covered by the Government's local council tax support grant allocations announced as part of the Covid-19 funding for local authorities."

A Government scheme should help to plug the funding gap, while the deficit will be spread over three years and split between Cumbria county council, the area's Police and Crime Commissioner, and the council as billing authority.

But the “financial hole” caused by a drastic fall in anticipated income to the authority’s collection fund could cause resource and budget pressures for years to come.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, a trade body, has warned that the end of Government funded Covid support could make it even more difficult for councils to repay the deficit.

The collection fund represents income and expenditure relating to council tax and business rates, with estimates used to help set local authority budgets.

In response to the pandemic, the Government asked councils to estimate the impact of Covid-19 on the collection of funds for 2020-21.

Just 41 local authorities expect a surplus in council tax income while more than 250 reported estimated deficits of between £14,000 and £17 million.

There were 10 councils that indicated they were not in deficit, but did not report surplus figures.

The national anticipated deficit across all councils in England rises to £546 million when surpluses are not taken into account.