"Too Much Red Tape" Holding Back Covid-19 Payouts In Brighton

Monday, 13 July 2020 10:52

By John Warburton @Warblefly

Brighton and Hove City Council: "Cut Red Tape" (picture: Hove Town Hall)

Brighton and Hove's local authority has claimed that £11m that could go to help the city's businesses through the coronavirus lockdown is being "held back by government red tape".

The city council said it's adding its voice to those of some local business leaders, by asking the government to simplify and streamline some funding rules.

Local businesses could then benefit from around £11m of desperately needed financial support, the authority believed.

The £11m is money the council has already been given by the government to allocate to local businesses.

The council has already given out around £3.7m in discretionary grants to more than 300 local small businesses.

But, according to the authority, demand for discretionary grants vastly outstripped the money available.

Officials said figures showed over 900 small businesses applied, leaving more than 600 seeking grants amounting to £7m.

Back in April the government gave the council £83m to distribute to local businesses.

A spokesperson for the city council said:

"They then asked us to distribute £73m of it in small business grants based on a strict funding formula.

"Due to business closures and other factors around eligibility the council was only able to allocate around £68m.

"Government red tape is now stopping the council from allocating the remaining £11m through more discretionary grants."

Council leader Nancy Platts added to the statement:

“We’re calling on the government to do the right thing.

"Jobs and livelihoods must always come first, not rules and regulations.

“We’ve followed the rules closely, and as a result we have only been able to allocate around £72m.

"We’re desperate to give out the other £11m, but it’s the government’s own red tape that’s stopping us.

“Businesses across the city are in desperate need of support right now.

"The discretionary grants we’ve already paid out will provide a lifeline for the 300 or so that have qualified for them.

“But hundreds more businesses could benefit if we were able to use the other £11m to support them.”

Brighton and Hove City Council has been circulating the identities of some supporters of the call to remove red tape.

Among the 20 business organisations supporting the call for the government to take urgent action were: the Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership; the Federation of Small Businesses; Wired Sussex and the Brighton Restaurant Association.