Councils in the North East have distributed more than £440m to businesses hardest hit by the coronavirus lockdown, but thousands have still not applied for support.
Latest figures obtained by The Journal show that the 12 councils in the North East have distributed £440.9m to 38,692 companies through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme set up to give packages of £10,000 or £25,000 to businesses in those industries.
But more than 7,000 are those believed to be eligible for the scheme have not applied for funding, while there have been warnings that other forms of financial support will have to be found for companies that do not qualify.
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The North East’s largest authority, Durham County Council, has led the way in distributing funds, giving out £90.6m to more than 8,100 companies. Northumberland County Council has given out £76.8m to 6,800 companies.
This week Newcastle topped the £50m mark and has given support to more than 4,000 businesses, but council leader Nick Forbes said more needed support.
He said: “We’re committed to supporting the city’s businesses through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. Our SMEs are a vital part of our local economy and providing them with fast access to grants has been a key priority for us.
“It’s testament to our hard-working staff that we’ve processed thousands of grants worth £50m, and as a city, we’ve acted faster and gone further than many other local authorities to help keep our businesses in business.
“We welcome the fact that the Government has listened to our concerns and widened the scope of funding so we can help more businesses get through this economic and health crisis, which is threatening the future of so many of our local traders.
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“I have been pushing the Government for clarity on the additional funding to be made available for our small and medium size businesses. Unfortunately, the detail of this additional funding has yet to be made clear, but I can guarantee that as soon as we have this clarity, our teams will work tirelessly to get these much-needed funds to our small business owners.
“These are challenging and difficult times, but we are here to support local businesses and get through this unprecedented situation together and help create a strong economic foundation to build our cities recovery from.”
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Carl Marshall, cabinet member for economic regeneration at Durham County Council, said: “We are really pleased to have paid out more than £90m in grants so far to help more than 8,000 businesses across the county through these difficult times. However, we know that there is more work to do and our staff are working hard to increase the number of businesses being supported.
“They are also assessing the recent announcement of an extension to the Business Rates grants scheme, where additional funding is being made available to support businesses that fall outside of the original scheme.
“This will allow us to prioritise small businesses in shared offices, regular market traders who don’t have their own business rates assessment, bed and breakfast operators and charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief.
“We are determined that no eligible business is left without support and we would encourage any companies in County Durham which have not applied for a grant to find out whether they are eligible.”
Sunderland has distributed £37.5m, Gateshead £34.7m, North Tyneside £27.1m and South Tyneside £22m.
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Grants have been made available to companies in the hospitality, leisure and retail industries and those eligible for business rates relief.
But the scheme only applies to companies with a rateable value below £51,000, leaving many city centre firms without support, while some smaller businesses such as bed-and-breakfasts, and those in shared office spaces, have also missed out.