Coronavirus: £42m of grants paid to Shropshire businesses

Shropshire Council has paid more than £42m to more than 3,600 Shropshire businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, since grant applications opened on 1 April 2020.

The council is working hard to ensure that all eligible businesses receive their payments as soon as possible, with additional staff helping to process remaining applications.

The council has received £91m of funding from the Government to pass directly onto local businesses affected by the pandemic.

Shropshire’s small businesses, and businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, can apply for Government funding through the Coronavirus COVID-19 Small Business Grant Fund, and Retail Hospitality & Leisure Grant Fund. Businesses must be business rate payers to apply.

Some of the positive feedback received from local businesses that have received funding includes:

• “Thanks again for the speedy grant release to my business in Shrewsbury. This will go to good use powering us forward in these uncertain times.”
• “Thank you for processing my business grant so quickly it is much appreciated in these trying times.”
• “I just want to thank you so much for your fast efficient response. This is a business saver.”
• “Very grateful for all the authority is doing to process grant payments.”
• “I would like to thank you so much for my business grant, without this I would really of been struggling to continue with my business, I now have faith that we can continue as a company. Thank you once again.”
• “Can you thank the team from me, for all the advice and support they gave me last week. Also I really appreciated what you did for me getting someone to check my application, considering the amount you have took on this was going above and beyond.”
• “We are very appreciative of this, with 22 staff relying on us, this support is vital – thanks.”

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for assets, economic growth and regeneration, said:

“This funding is a huge and vital boost for businesses in the county in these challenging times, and making sure that the money reaches those who need it as soon as possible is a huge undertaking for the council and one of our top priorities.

“We know that many businesses are still desperately waiting for this money to reach them, and we can reassure them that we’re working as quickly as we can, with extra staff helping to ensure that applications are processed and payments made as soon as possible. We ask businesses to bear with us as we are doing appropriate checks and balances and – to help us – please provide accurate information on application forms and when asked supply additional evidence.

“We’ve never had to do anything like this before, or on this scale. We assured businesses that we would be working as fast as we possibly can, and I hope these figures show that we are doing just that.”

If any businesses haven’t yet applied for this funding, they should do so as soon as possible. To read the eligibility criteria and to apply visit the Shropshire Council website.

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