Covid has been an economic crisis as well as a health emergency.

In a new four-part series Felicity Hannah meets families, businesses & local councils whose lives and fortunes have been changed completely by the pandemic.

This week, she meets the leaders of three local councils – Wirral, Lancashire and Newcastle - to find out what Covid has done to their budgets and how that will hit their communities. We hear how some councils saved money because families were too scared to send elderly relatives into care homes, while most faced huge extra costs and have struggled to recoup income lost through local lockdowns. How will they cope as they face a £3 billion funding gap over the next few years?

Producer Helen Grady
Researcher Louise Byrne
Editor Alex Lewis