First business payments out this week for Blackburn and Darwen firms

The Council is starting to send out Government grant payments to local businesses affected by the coronavirus.

Following the package of support announced by the Government for those affected by the restrictions and closures put in place in response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Council received the funds from Government on Wednesday, 1^st April in order to pay the grant.

Finance teams at the Council are working around the clock to process the payments and the first round of funds have been sent out and are due to be with businesses on Thursday, April 8^th.

There are more than 4,000 businesses in Blackburn and Darwen that qualify for the grant funding.

So far this adds up to payments of £10.5 million. A total of £46million will be paid out. We will be issuing payments twice a week as we work through the applications.

We are still working through the data provided by the other businesses as required by the Government so we can verify the bank details – we will push the payments out as soon as possible.

However, we have also received hundreds of bogus claims, which has slowed down the process for the legitimate businesses and claims.

To assist businesses we are not going to take the Direct Debits due for BR on 1^st and 15^th April but will clear the grant payments, apply all of the new reliefs and then rebill the businesses the new or revised amounts in May and June.

Councillor Phil Riley, Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:

We fully understand that this is a very worrying time for businesses in the area, and our first priority is to support them as much as we can. We are working flat out to process these grants and businesses should see the money coming in very shortly.”

For more information on the Government Grants go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses

Advice for businesses can also be found at: www.blackburn.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-advice