Northumberland's £33.2m business support bill

Hard-hit retail and hospitality businesses in Northumberland have been given over £33m to help reopen as lockdown restrictions are eased, new figures show.
£33m in business support cash£33m in business support cash
£33m in business support cash

The funding – from the Government's £5bn Restart Scheme – has been welcomed by local authority leaders.

Latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show Northumberland County Council had issued £33.2m in grants to 4,267 businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors under the scheme up to the end of May.

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The cash came from a £37.2m pot given to the council – leaving £4m still to distribute by the end of July.

The scheme offers grants up to £6,000 for non-essential retail businesses and £18,000 for firms in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors.

Nationally, £2.6bn had been passed on to more than 340,000 businesses by the end of May.

Business leaders have complained some councils have been too slow to pass on the money.

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Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: "Some local authorities still have money to hand out to hard-hit businesses. They were meant to be Restart grants, in line with the reopening of so-called non-essential retail on April 12."

The Local Government Association, which represents the country's councils, said stringent checks had to be done on businesses before payments were issued.

A spokesman said: "Councils have had to come to terms with a rapidly changing landscape and guidance with different grants applying to different time periods and lockdowns but are working fast to ensure businesses receive funding as quickly as possible.”