More than £25 million of support grant funding for businesses in South Lakeland has been processed in the first two weeks of the scheme.
South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) launched its application process for the government support grants on 27 March and invited eligible businesses to complete an online form.
By this afternoon the council had received 3,281 online applications and had validated £25 million of the grant fund, with businesses in the district already seeing grants of £10k or £25k appearing in their bank accounts.
Councillor Robin Ashcroft, SLDC portfolio holder for Economy, Culture and Leisure, said: “This has been an incredible effort to make sure we’ve processed these applications as quickly as possible to get the money to these businesses.
“We created a straightforward online application process to ensure we could receive applications, validate them and release the funds really quickly.
“Council staff from all areas of the authority have been drafted in to support the application process and we now have 27 officers working on the grants scheme. They will be continuing to work over the Easter break to maintain the momentum – we recognise how vitally important these grants will be to businesses at this time.
“We estimate that there are around 6,000 businesses in South Lakeland eligible for the Small Business or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grants, and we’ve now had 3,281 applying in the first two weeks.
“Any businesses that have yet to apply can check online about eligibility criteria and to access the application form.”
Businesses can find more information and an application form at:
www.southlakeland.gov.uk/Covid-19BusinessGrants
Businesses that fall under one of the following categories and believe they are eligible for the funding are being invited to complete the form:
- Small business rate relief recipient
- Rural rate relief recipient
- Expanded retail discount scheme recipient
Please note that completing this form does not mean a business is eligible for the grants available, but it will allow the council to check details against its rating list and make a determination of eligibility against the criteria laid out by government.
Those eligible should receive the payment within seven working days from receipt of a valid application.
Any businesses that apply but are not eligible will be sent an email setting out why they do not meet the criteria set out by government and will be signposted to other support they may be eligible for.
