This is in addition to £37m which the team paid out last summer which brings the total grant funding to Allerdale’s business community in response to the current pandemic to over £50m.

The figure, which is for the period up to 29 January 2021, includes £2.9m to eligible businesses that have been told to close since January 5 as a result of the introduction of the national lockdown, and an additional £5.8m in a one-off payment to the retail, leisure and hospitality sector.

Businesses were also entitled to support to cover the Tier 2 and Tier 4 restrictions introduced in December and over the New Year period. The council has provided £1.6m to those businesses affected, and a further £80,000 to wet-led pubs under the Christmas Support Payment scheme. The deadline for applications for the wet-led pub grant was recently extended until 28 February 2021. Those who have yet to apply are encouraged to claim the £1,000 payment as soon as possible.

In addition, businesses who had to close due to the lockdown in November have received more than £2.6m in funding support.

Businesses, that are not entitled to help under many of the schemes perhaps because they may not have a rateable value for instance, have benefitted from a further £267,000 through the council’s discretionary scheme. A second round of this scheme was recently launched, and businesses who think they may be eligible are encouraged to find out more information on the council’s website and apply.

In total some 7,205 payments have been processed in recent weeks. 

Where possible the council is making payments using information from previous successful applications made since November 2020, to make the process quicker and more streamlined.

More details on all the grants available, how they are being paid, and details of how to apply can be found at: https://www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/coronavirus/coronavirus-business-grants-claims/.