Telford council hoping to get £1.6 million to support crisis-hit firms
Almost 500 small businesses previously rejected for financial support will have their cases looked at again after the Government made more money available.
But Councillor Shaun Davies, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, warned that there was not likely to be enough money to ensure everybody was satisfied.
Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an extra £617 million of support to businesses which were not eligible for previous Government support schemes.
Both the council and Telford MP Lucy Allan had lobbied the Government for more money.
The amount each local authority will receive has yet to be announced, but Councillor Davies said he expected Telford & Wrekin Council would get about £1.6 million. He said the council would revisit almost 500 applications which had previously been rejected because they did not meet Government criteria for the scheme’s initial stage.
He said: “I welcome that the Government has listened to the case that we made for the many borough businesses who, through no fault of their own, were slipping through the net.
“We will automatically revisit those unsuccessful applications we have already received to help us develop a local scheme. We will make the process as easy as possible but may require further additional information from them depending on the Government’s guidance.
“While any extra help for businesses is welcome, if the amount we receive is proportionate to a council’s size, we can expect around £1.6 million.
“Given that we can also expect more applications from firms who didn’t apply first time around because they didn’t meet criteria, such a sum would not go far."
Councillor Davies said that as soon as the full details emerged from the Government, the council would develop a local scheme to get the extra funding out to businesses as quickly as possible.
To qualify, businesses must have fewer than 50 employees and to demonstrate a significant loss of income due to coronavirus.
There will be three levels of grant payments – £25,000, £10,000 or under £10,000.
Councillor Davies added that to date paid out almost £27 million to around 2,230 businesses in grants and is in the top 10 out of more than 300 English councils for the percentage of money allocated.
