Up to half of Covid business support grants being rejected

The news is revealed in figures supplied to SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly, who had quizzed finance minister Conor Murphy about how much the scheme was costing and how many had applied.

Specifically the programme is called the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme – a support scheme first launched in October.

The written response to Mrs Kelly reveals that 35% of all the applications processed so far have been rejected.

That is the average across all of the Province’s 11 councils. But within that overall figure, there are regional variations.

> For example, the proportion of applications which are rejected in the Derry City and Strabane District Council runs at a rate of 48% – the highest of any council.

> In all, the government has received 18,045 applications in total.

> It approved 10,118 and rejected 6,295 – with 1,632 still awaiting a decision.

> In all £60.4 million has been paid out under the scheme – an average of £5,973 for every business that successfully applied.

The scheme itself is comparatively complex.

First piloted in Londonderry in October and focusing on pubs, hospitality, and entertainment, it has since spread across the Province and to almost any kind of “non-essential” customer-facing enterprise, from cinemas and hairdressers to bowling alleys, B&Bs, and marinas.

Glyn Roberts, the chief executive of Retail NI, said: “It is a cause for concern that so many businesses are being rejected. We will certainly being following up on this with the Executive.”

He added: “The qualifying criteria for all these schemes needs to be under regular review to ensure they are not too strict or an overly complicated application process.

“It is vital that we get these funds out to struggling small businesses as many of them will be lucky to survive this third lockdown.”

In particular, he said care must be taken to ensure that independent food retailers, struggling to eke out a living “in town and city centres which are virtual ghost towns”, are able to access support.

For details on the support scheme, paste the following into your internet browser: www.cutt.ly/qjULD9x

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