Council says 'over half' of lifeline Northampton business grants have been processed after weeks of delays

Northampton Borough Council says it has now processed more than 50 per cent of severely-delayed Covid-19 business grants.

Thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs in Northampton have had to face weeks of tense waiting for cash to keep them afloat because of delays by the authority.

And last week, the Chronicle & Echo spoke to some businesses who were on the brink of bankruptcy after just three weeks of waiting for the money from central government.

Now, the council says as of yesterday (April 27) it has processed 1,363 out of 2,594 applications received, worth a total of £17.6m.

It marks a sharp uptake in progress. Just 10 days ago - two weeks after the scheme was rolled out - the council revealed it only processed some 400 applications. A week after that, it had reportedly only processed another 80.The council is also now updating a document on its website of all the application numbers processed so far for businesses to double-check - although there may still be a few days of waiting between them being processed and the cash landing in the bank.

However, it still means hundreds of businesses will now be entering their fourth week waiting for the vital grant money.

Businesses which have not yet accessed a grant can do so on the borough council's website. Eligible businesses with premises with a rateable value of up to £15,000 will receive a grant of £10,000, while those with premises with a rateable value of over £15,000 but less than £51,000, will receive a grant of £25,000.

Leader of Northampton's Liberal Democrats Martin Sawyer said anyone still waiting on their grants should ask their local councillor to appeal on their behalf.

He said of the progress: "Although I would praise the council for their due diligence the seemingly poor performance in processing applications will result in many small local businesses collapsing.

"Central Government has put a good package together which will help small business owners stay in business and keep jobs safe, not all of them will survive and it is going to be so much harder if NBC is unable to deliver these grants efficiently."

Meanwhile, Northampton's Business Improvement District (BID) has been asking for daily progress updates from the council for businesses who approach them for help.

Operations manager Mark Mullen said: "By doing this the council is no longer receiving multiple and daily requests every day from a host of town centre businesses, but is getting one email, once a day, on behalf of all.

"The council has committed to replying within 24 hours which means I am now able to reply individually reply to all BID businesses that have asked for help.”

MP for Northampton South Andrew Lewer said: "The purpose of these grants was to get them out to businesses that qualify as soon as possible.

"It has come up time and again in my daily conversations with leaders of Northampton businesses... I understand the processes that councils have to go through, but time is of the essence here and I want to be able to tell local businesses [...] that grants are being paid out to those who need them at a much faster rate.”

MP for Northampton North, Michael Ellis, added: "Several local businesses and the Borough Council have been in touch with me to try to help with making more emergency support funding available for small business in Northampton.

"The Government has acted very quickly and generously to make grants of up to £10,000 available for small businesses (£25,000 for some retail, leisure and hospitality businesses) but I am aware that some businesses are waiting for the local authority to authorise some payments and I am taking action to help local businesses get the money they need."