South Kesteven District Council among the top authorities for paying out coronavirus small business grants

Within less than three weeks of being allocated £31.7m of Government money to distribute, SKDC paid out £22.15m in 1,838 grants – with 900 payments made in the first 24 hours.

The rapid response ranked the council 36th out of 315 local authorities nationwide responsible for administering the Government funded grant schemes.

SKDC Leader Coun Kelham Cooke said: “Supporting our local businesses through the Coronavirus is one of our top priorities. This is an outstanding achievement and would not have been possible without our dedicated staff working tirelessly to allocate money, while giving equally valuable guidance and advice.”

The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund are administered by InvestSK, the council’s economic growth and regeneration company.

More than 2,500 businesses in South Kesteven eligible for the grants have been contacted and asked to complete an online declaration form so the grants can be paid directly to them.

“I would urge those businesses yet to do so to complete their paperwork so that we can help them access this funding,” said Coun Cooke.

InvestSK provides a central point of contact for local businesses concerned about the impact of Coronavirus on their operations.

More details about the grants and a link to the declaration form for eligible businesses to complete is at www.investsk.co.uk/businessgrants

Businesses that do not qualify for the support can contact InvestSK about other support that may be available.

According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s latest national report of April 20, £146.945 million had been handed out to support businesses during the coronavirus outbreak by Greater Linciolnshire councils.

The figure is just over 55 per cent of the cash councils across the region were given by government.

More than 12,683 of the 21,437 identified businesses had received cash – an average of £11,586 per business.

As of April 19, East Lindsey District Council had given out the most money (£24.430 million) to the most businesses (2,047).

The authority was the 71st highest paying council out of 314 nationwide – the only one within the top quarter of high spenders – but had only actually given away 40 per cent of its cash.

Coun Adam Grist, portfolio holder for market towns and rural economy, said: “Our focus continues to be getting this much needed funding distributed to businesses as quickly as we possibly can.

“We’ve made good progress so far and have now distributed almost £30 million but we’re aware there are still a number of businesses who are eligible that haven’t yet made contact with us.”

The authority that had given away the highest percentage of its cash was South Holland District Council, which had spent £16.205 million of the £19.448 million it was given by government – around 83.32% per cent.

The authority had paid out to 1,373 of its estimated 1,730 businesses and sat seventh nationally.

South Holland, along with Lincoln, South Kesteven, North Kesteven and West Lindsey all sat within the top quarter of authorities in England to have shared the most of their money.

Boston Borough Council sat lower in the national table, having given away 61.15 per cent of its funding. 

The authority was given the lowest amount by the government at £16.640 million and has so far given away £10.175 million.

It had processed 878 of the 1,377 eligible businesses.

To the north of the region, North East Lincolnshire Council had given out £17.435 million of its £35.510 million grant – almost 50 per cent. It was the third highest paying council in Greater Lincolnshire.

It had given money to 1,562 grants out of the 2,492 eligible businesses.

However, North Lincolnshire had only given out £13.710 million of its £37.242 million pot – just over a third of the money it was given.

Just 1,281 of its 3,209 businesses had been sent money.