Adult social care providers will be paid 10 per cent extra by Cambridgeshire County Council during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The chairman of the council’s adult services committee, Cllr Anna Bailey, announced the decision on Friday (April 17), saying it would support providers of adult social care, and “recognise the tremendous efforts and financial pressure that they are facing in the fight against Covid-19”.

Cllr Bailey said it will cost an additional £1.4 million a month, starting from next week and continuing “at least” until the end of June.

Cllr Bailey said in a statement: “This will put an additional £1.4 million per month into the care sector locally and will be paid to all those organisations we contract with to supply residential, nursing and home care, extra care, supported living and direct payments to help them continue to provide care to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

“I thank all our care organisations throughout Cambridgeshire and every single member of their staff for everything they are doing.”

The council said the decision would be in part covered by the £14.6 million it has received from the government, which is primarily to support social care during the pandemic.

But the council said that funding “will not cover the whole cost”.

“The government has made a commitment that they will do all in their power to fight the consequences of this unprecedented pandemic – and we support them in this,” Cllr Bailey said.

“We will be making sure that any additional costs we incur over and above the funding we’ve already received are properly identified and accounted for and then we will enlist the support of our Cambridgeshire MPs to report this back to government for any additional reimbursement we need.

“This so that the people of Cambridgeshire can be properly supported both now and in the future.”