Over £7 million of business grants have been processed by Nottingham City Council, as of Friday 17th April to support small businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic, with businesses who have not filed their claim for their grant urged to do so as soon as possible.
A dedicated team are working on payments of grants to eligible businesses, who depending on their rateable value are eligible for a £10,000-£25,000 business support grant.
The initial £7 million of claims have been processed for businesses with funds likely to arrive in bank accounts within 3 working days. Bespoke software has been created to enable faster processing of grants once applications have been made and anti-fraud checks completed.
Any business eligible for one of these grants must fill in this e-form on the City Council website for the claim to be processed.
These payments are part of an estimated £129m package of support due to be provided by the city council to businesses and residents through Central Government grants, business rate relief, rural rate relief, council tax relief and other measures. The council is also lobbying government to provide support to other small businesses who fall outside the scope of the current grant system, such as those renting offices in a shared building or premises.
Meanwhile, the council is requesting additional funding from Central Government to support Nottingham’s economy once the initial pandemic lock-down ends to ensure Nottingham remains a thriving city. Work is also underway to establish a recovery plan to help the local economy return to growth as quickly as possible.
Councillor Sam Webster, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Growth and the City Centre, said: “I recognise how vital the business support grants are to our local companies. We’ve now processed over £7million and council staff are working around the clock to get the rest of the thousands of support grants out as quickly and efficiently as possible. With additional capacity and software in place we are now processing several million pounds worth of grants per day.
“With this in mind, I have a clear message to those who haven’t yet submitted an online form: we need you to fill in the online form and ensure that your business banking details are correct, otherwise we can’t pay and support you. Please work with us to help your business.
“These grants will support the local business community, which will be important for Nottingham’s quick economic recovery and getting back to business as usual when it’s safe to do so. The jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of our residents relies upon it.”