Businesses in Nottingham, Birmingham and Manchester have claimed less than a fifth of the coronavirus emergency support available to them, new government figures reveal.
As of 20 April, just half of the £12.6bn distributed to local councils across England has been claimed, the figures show. Eligible businesses can claim a £10,000 grant as part of the Small Business Grants Fund or up to £25,000 as part of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund.
Claiming patterns vary drastically by location. For example, only around 11 per cent of the money had been paid out by Birmingham City Council by the start of this week. Southampton, on the other hand, had already handed out nearly 90 per cent of its £40.7m allocation.
In Manchester, where only about 17 per cent of the £121m had been claimed, the problem seems to be one of logistics. A spokesman for Manchester City Council said: “Manchester has a lot more businesses to support than other local authorities, along with some very complex cases. For many [firms] we do not have the company details on file to expedite the process.”
You can explore the chart below to see the data for every council.
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