Region’s businesses have longest wait for emergency coronavirus grants

The West Midlands is the worst-performing region in the country for distributing emergency grants to businesses, with more than 40,000 businesses still waiting nearly six weeks after Chancellor Rishi Sunak launched the rescue package.

Sandwell Council had the worst record of the 314 local authorities in England, having passed on just 24% of the £73m it was responsible for.

However it has been hamstrung by not having bank details for 96% of businesses, with verification checks increasing the time taken to pay money out.

Council leader Cllr Yvonne Davies said: “Our staff are working flat out, including at weekends, to process grants for our businesses, but we can only process those claims we have received.

“Most businesses can expect to receive a payment within two weeks of submitting a claim.”

Dudley, at 34%, and Birmingham, at 37%, were also in the bottom 10 places nationally despite a surge in payments last week.

Dudley paid out £9m in three days, compared to the same amount in the first 19 days of the Council havimg the money from Government.

Birmingham City Council has now automated its processes, and has staff working weekends, which has helped to speed up payments. It had paid out £86m of its £231m allocation, with £60m of that being achieved in the last week.

It has the second-largest allocation in the country, behind Cornwall, although the south west authority has paid out nearly £200m by the same point.

Birmingham City Council leader Cllr Ian Ward said: “Officers are working extremely hard to get these grants out to Birmingham businesses and I’m pleased that we have now made significant progress.

“We recognise and appreciate that this is a matter of real urgency and businesses can help us get these payments out as quickly as possible by ensuring that we have their most up to date details.”

Local authorities in England were handed £1.24bn to pass on to 97,000 small businesses and those operating in the retail and leisure sectors as part of the measures to prevent an economic catastrophe following on from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But TheBusinessDesk.com can reveal that only 54% of eligible businesses in the region had received the money by the start of this week.

Across England, 62% of grants have been paid out with businesses receiving £7.6bn. However £4.7bn remained unpaid, including £570m due to West Midlands companies.

The payments are from the Government’s small business grants fund and the retail, hospitality and leisure business grants fund.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced on March 17 – the Tuesday before lockdown began – that the Government would hand out grants to nearly 1m small businesses.

All businesses eligible for small business rates relief or rural rates relief can receive a £10,000 grant.

Specific support was provided to shops, restaurants, bars and other leisure operators. Businesses which are eligible for the expanded retail discount will receive a £10,000 grant if its rateable value is up to £15,000, and a grant of £25,000 if its rateable value is between £15,000 and £51,000.

Nationally 345,000 of the 959,000 eligible businesses were still waiting to receive their money by Sunday, more than one month into the lockdown which has sent shockwaves through the economy.

It has also put increased pressure on stretched local authorities, which are dealing with the long-term effects of a decade of local government cuts, the short-term disruption to their own operations, and additional demands on its services.

Wyre Forest District Council has paid out 82% of its £23m allocation, putting it top of the West Midlands rankings and in the top 20 nationally.

Council leader Cllr Graham Ballinger, said: “I am immensely proud of what the council’s staff have achieved in such a short time.

“This is a fantastic achievement and I know the team will continue to work hard to pay grants to any remaining eligible businesses.”

There is a huge disparity between the performance of local authorities, with more than seven out of 10 businesses still waiting for money in some parts of the country.

Four other authorities as well as Sandwell – Harrow, Slough, Tendring and South Derbyshire – had paid out less than 30% of their allocation by Sunday night, and 41 authorities had distributed less than half.

However Ealing, Epping Forest and Westminster had all allocated more than 90% of their funding.

Neighbouring authorities North Warwickshire and Warwick, second and third in the West Midlands rankings having allocated more than 80% of grants, are still encouraging those who have not yet submitted their details to do so as soon as possible.

Cllr David Wright, leader of North Warwickshire Borough Council, said: “We’ve tried to make the whole process as quick and easy as possible to allow us to make prompt payment of the grants and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from our customers for the speed in which we have been able to issue the money.”

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