Dartmoor National Park Authority uses reserve funds to pay staff

Staff at Dartmoor National Park had to be paid from reserves for two months after government funding failed to arrive in time, bosses have said.

The authority that manages the park in Devon said it did not receive a grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) until 16 June and it was not notified of the payment until 28 May, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It said the grant funds its operations which includes 90 staff and it was the latest it had ever been distributed.

A Defra spokesperson said it understood resourcing remained “a challenge” for national parks but it was “investing in these important landscapes”.

“Our national parks are a source of great national pride, which is why we are providing an uplift of £15m [across all national parks],” they said.

A spokesperson for the Dartmoor National Park Authority said the delay had “real impact” as “every penny is important”.

The authority said this year’s grant was reduced by 13% compared with last year, the largest ever cut.

Bosses said the authority had not received any support for the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

They said they were looking at how they could use a £1.4m increase in capital funding to buy property and possibly introduce more car parks to bring in extra income.

Defra said the additional £15m was confirmed to Dartmoor and other national parks in April and the money was on top of £400m a year it was “investing in restoring nature across the country”.