Plymouth's businesses benefit from £75 million in COVID grants
Firms which haven't yet applied, are being asked to check their eligibility
Plymouth City Council has distributed nearly £75 million in grants to support local businesses through coronavirus restrictions since April 2020.
The local authority is warning many businesses still haven’t claimed the financial support they are entitled to.
Council Leader Tudor Evans OBE said:
"Plymouth City Council staff have worked incredibly hard in challenging circumstances to get money out to businesses quickly and we understand how desperately important these grants are.
"I'd like to thank businesses for their patience. We’re currently administering 10 different grant schemes and our finance team has made more than 15,800 payments which as you can imagine, has required a huge amount of admin to process.
"Each time a new grant is announced, there’s a delay in us receiving both the guidance and the funding from Government. We really do appreciate that this can be frustrating for businesses, but I want to reassure you that we’re turning these grants around as fast as we can."
Approximately 1,200 businesses haven’t yet applied for funding through the LRSG.
The deadline to receive the January grants is 31 March.
Any business which pays rates to the Council and has been legally required to close during the coronavirus lockdown is urged to check the eligibility criteria and apply if they haven’t done so already.
Many businesses that were ineligible for the LRSG have instead been supported through the ARG scheme, discretionary funding that was given to local authorities to support businesses in the form of grants or economic development activity.
Further grants will also be available to help businesses reopen post-lockdown. The new Restart Grants will be administered by the council.
More information about business grants and how to apply is available at investplymouth.co.uk/business-grants.