OLDHAM is to receive £6 million after the government revealed Greater Manchester will get more than £70 million in the latest round of emergency funding.

This reverses its decision on using a formula which gives more money to the most deprived parts in the country.

A total of £70.9 million has been allocated for Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities in the fourth tranche of additional funding from government.

This extra funding is being provided alongside the £82 million Greater Manchester is expecting from the government for entering Tier 3 Covid-19 restrictions.

But the 10 boroughs still face a financial shortfall in excess of £200 million in total.

Unlike in the second round of coronavirus funding in April, the government has used the "relative needs formula" to calculate how much each council receives.

The funding formula favours the areas with the highest levels of deprivation.

The methodology used this time also takes into account how much councils missed out on in April’s allocation and makes up some of the difference.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who criticised the government for removing the deprivation weighting back in April, welcomed the news.

He said: “The government has to realise that slogans alone won’t level up the North.

“The most deprived parts of our country have been left most exposed to the virus, and local authorities that saw years of budget cuts have found themselves struggling to cope.

“This is a positive start, but it can only be a start. We need to see meaningful change, and for government to work with local areas and give us the resources to do what’s right by our places.

“We are facing one of the toughest winters this country has known. If we do not give communities the support they need, we not only jeopardise the recovery – we risk seeing the North levelled down.”

The funding has not been ring-fenced, which means that local leaders will decide how to spend it to best protect public health and vital local services.

Manchester City Council, which has projected a budget shortfall of more than £100 million this year, has been awarded the largest share of funding in this round with £24 million – the most it has received from the government grants so far.

Salford City Council gets £7.6 million of the funding, helping it plug a £11 million gap.

City mayor Paul Dennett welcomed the extra one-off money, but said that local authorities should not have had to do without it up until this point.

He said: “Government has promised that councils will not lose out as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis we’re now facing. As to whether this promise is delivered on, we will have to wait and see.

“Undoubtedly the extra money will help towards protecting local ratepayers from further service cuts, but if government are serious about levelling up and re-balancing the economy we cannot see a return to the 10 years of disproportionate cuts and austerity that have savaged local government over recent years.”

Trafford, the only council to receive more in the second tranche when the relative needs formula was not used, will get the least this time – £2.2 million.

Bury and Stockport have been given around £3.5 million each, while Tameside and Wigan have each been allocated in excess of £5 million in the latest funding round.

Oldham and Rochdale have been granted around £6 million each in Tranche 4.

Bolton Council, which revealed this week that it will have to make £40 million of budget cuts this year, has been granted £6.7 million in the latest round of funding.

Back in April, council leader David Greenhalgh said he would fight for more funding, but explained that the relative needs formula was not used in the second tranche because district councils had been disproportionately hit.

Now, the borough will receive some of the money it missed out on in April.

Cllr Greenhalgh said: “It is clear that areas that have inequalities and areas of deprivation such as ours do need extra help, and have been disproportionately hit economically during the pandemic, and it is right that government has listened and allocated Tranche 4 using a formula that recognises these challenges and on the basis of need.”