TORFAEN council is predicting losses of more than £1.5 million in the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic.

A cabinet report says that the county borough council lost around £1.64 million between April and June this year.

The executive member for resources, Cllr Kelly Preston, said the Welsh Government had allocated some extra resources to help local authorities cover the additional costs associated with coronavirus.

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So far, the council has claimed more than £1.5 million from the Welsh Government.

In March, a small claim of £7,585 was received to recognise that lockdown only occurred towards the end of the month.

In April the council claimed £435,621. The majority of this (£270,000) was in relation to free school meal payments.

However, in May the council’s claim totalled more than £1 million from the Welsh Government. £710,000 was provided for social care and of this, £432,000 went to care home providers. £218,000 was also received to help pay for free school meals.

The council said that while the loss for the first three months of the pandemic totalled £1.64 million, it was originally anticipated that the council would lose £1.8 million.

A report says the reduction in income loss was due to the expectation that income from industrial and commercial properties would suffer considerable. However, the business support packages have indicated that the loss is much lower than originally thought.

The council’s chief executive of resources, Nigel Aurelius, said: “It’s very easy for everyone to want and crave certainty in these times and that’s going to heighten as we move on.

“I think certainty is a long long way from us and therefore we have to approach this challenge in a calm and certainly not an alarmist manner

“The only way we get through this is by working together.”