Local businesses are reporting significant delays in receiving coronavirus restart grant funding from Sefton Council.
The coronavirus Restart Grant scheme was announced by the Government in March, where eligible businesses in the non-essential retail sector could receive a one-off cash grant of up to £6,000 from their local council.
However, several local businesses have informed OTS News that, while other councils nationwide appeared to have issued grants a week after application, they had received no funding or even notification of a decision 5 weeks after applying.
One local barber shop told OTS they had applied on the opening day of applications (12 April) and heard nothing: “A lot of businesses are struggling and we have had no reply or update from Sefton Council despite the government saying that the local councils would have the money available to them back in April.
“The purpose of the restart grant was to help businesses restart yet many have been without any support for many weeks since they reopened.”
Another local business who applied on the opening day received their grant yesterday with no warning or notification from the Council.
A Freedom of Information requested submitted on behalf of Damien Moore revealed:
a) As of 18 May the Council received 1,775 Restart grant applications
b) No Restart grants were paid before 12th May 2021
c) There were 136 Restart grants amounting to £972,681 paid by 17th May 2021.
The request says: “So far this week, a further 554 Restart grants amounting to £4,088,042 have been approved and payment will be issued this week. Additional staff resource is working on processing the grant applications and it is expected that payment will be issued for remaining applications by the end of May.
A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “Our teams are working on processing applications for the Restart Grant and have so far approved over 600 applications amounting to over £5,000,000.
“Due to a requirement by the Government to obtain more detailed information from applicants, and to conduct a greater level of pre-verification checks, the Council anticipate that it will take 4-6 weeks for the business to receive payment from the date they applied for the grant.
“Additional staff are working through the remaining grant applications and it is expected that payment will be issued to those businesses by the end of May.”
Damien Moore said: “I submitted a Freedom of Information Request after a constituent contacted me when his Restart Grant had not come through despite making an application a number of weeks ago.
“Sefton Borough Council appear to have been unhurried in opening up this grant to businesses, taking almost two weeks longer than neighbouring councils such as South Ribble.
“Out of the 1775 grants applied for, only 136 grants were approved and paid by 17 May. That meant many businesses in my constituency were not been able to re-open on time as they have been unable to purchase essential stock.
“How are businesses in Southport – particularly in the hospitality and tourism sector – expected to reopen their doors when the they have not received this critical funding?
“Sefton Borough Council may have approved a further 554 restart grants this week, but it’s come to late for many businesses in my constituency who have already had to endure a torrid 12 months of trading.”
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