Thousands of firms still waiting for coronavirus crisis cash across Black Country and Staffordshire

New figures show one Black Country council had paid just 67 per cent of the 5,887 business properties flagged as qualifying for help by May 31.

Sandwell Council’s figure was the lowest proportion of any council in England, with firms in the area having received £45 million as of the end of last month, data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy shows.

According to the figures 1,915 local business outlets earmarked were yet to get their hands on the remaining £28.1m as of May 31.

Sandwell Council said today it has now dealt with 88 per cent of applications received.

Council bosses from across the region also said there had been issues including owners not applying or changes of addresses.

• Scroll down for the situation in your area

In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced grants of between £10,000 and £25,000 for small and medium-sized businesses.

The cash is for a business property so firms with multiple outlets can receive more than one payment.

According to the Government figures a total of 4,747 businesses had not received cash out of 24,945 earmarked for qualifying across the Black Country and Staffordshire.

It means about 19 per cent of businesses had not been handed their money as of May 31 – although that figure has improved since then.

What support is available?

The Government support takes two forms.

The Small Business Grants Fund is worth £10,000 and available to those who ordinarily also qualify for relief on their business rates due to their small size.

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund is open to those that would have qualified for a 100 per cent reduction in business rates under the previously announced Expanded Retail Discount scheme as of March 11.

The cash is allocated per business property so firms with multiple outlets can receive more than one payment.

Small and micro businesses, such as market traders or bed and breakfast owners, who aren't eligible for the two grants can also apply to councils' Discretionary Grants Fund.

Black Country and Staffordshire summary

Wolverhampton Council was yet to pay 925 business properties flagged as qualifying for help, meaning 79 per cent of the 4,313 properties earmarked had been sent grants.

In Dudley, the authority was yet to pay 711 businesses – 86 per cent of the 5,014 properties earmarked had been sent grants.

In Walsall, the council was yet to pay 628 businesses, with 85 per cent of the 4,114 properties sent grants.

Over in Staffordshire, Stafford Borough Council was yet to pay 231 businesses, 11 per cent of the total. Cannock Chase District Council had paid 90 per cent but still had 199 businesses to deal with. South Staffordshire District Council was yet to pay 138 businesses, but had given grants to 91 per cent.

Karen Woolley, Federation of Small Businesses development manager for Birmingham, the Black Country and Staffordshire, said: “We fully understand the difficulties the local authorities across Staffordshire and the Black Country have experienced in contacting eligible businesses and have assisted them in any way we have been able to help get this crucial funding out the door and into the hands of those who need it most.

“For many businesses, this lifeline has meant the difference between surviving the crises or closing their doors for good.

“The difficulty has arisen where the councils do not hold up to date contact information for the rate payer which has caused the stumbling block in distributing the final portion of available funding.

“I would urge any small business owner across Staffordshire and the Black Country who feels they may be eligible to receive this grant to get in touch with their local authority as a matter of urgency and would also remind people that this is a grant and not a loan and is therefore not repayable, which can offer a much needed free cash injection into their business at this hugely challenging time.”

Richard Watts, chairman of the Local Government Association’s resources board, said: “Councils have worked hard to distribute more than £10 billion of this vital funding to small businesses. This has been a huge undertaking.”

The situation in your area

Sandwell

A third of eligible Sandwell businesses flagged as qualifying for help by May 31 have not received their cash – the highest rate in England.

The authority said it has now dealt with 88 per cent of applications received.

Sandwell Council deputy leader Councillor Wasim Ali, cabinet member for resources and core services, said: “As of Monday, Sandwell Council has now paid £47.5m to 4,219 businesses.

“We have processed a higher number of grants and paid more money to businesses than many other councils across the country.

“However, the fact remains that a number of businesses we identified as being potentially eligible for a grant have not applied for one – despite us writing out to businesses and carrying out follow-up phone calls to them. It’s impossible for us to pay businesses that have not applied.

“Sandwell has a high number of small businesses that do not have to pay business rates. We had to write to 96 per cent of potentially eligible businesses inviting them to apply for a grant and provide bank details. In many of these cases businesses had actually changed hands and we had not been advised, this makes the application and verification process more complex."

Wolverhampton

A total of 925 businesses in Wolverhampton had not received the cash by May 31, and the council said it is chasing eligible businesses.

A Wolverhampton Council spokesman said: “The council has been working tirelessly to ensure businesses get their hands on these grants swiftly - and 96 per cent of eligible applications have been paid since the scheme went live on April 6.

“That means 3,517 city businesses have accessed almost £40m of funding, while 153 applications are currently being processed or are awaiting further information from the businesses.

“The council continues to proactively chase the 595 remaining eligible business, who have already been contacted by letter or email but have yet to respond to the council to provide the required information, including bank details for the grant payment.

“We are also working with organisations such as the Black Country Chamber of Commerce to help secure alternative contact details for those eligible businesses who have yet to apply for the grant – and we would welcome the Federation of Small Businesses’ help in making contact with these businesses.

“As of June 8 the number of properties eligible for grants stood at 4,265 of which 82 per cent have received grant payments.”

Wolverhampton Business Forum chairman Sham Sharma said: “The council has been really good in the crisis. We have had a lot of positive feedback from members who received grants quite quickly.

“The problems have been where people did not submit the required papers properly. In some cases they did not enclose a rates bill or provide proper bank details,” he explained.

Mr Sharma, who runs Zuri Coffee in Lichfield Street, said the forum had been working with businesses across the city to help them get applications in order and offer advice on how to access the support that was available.

He added that there had been several cases where companies had not applied or could not be contacted because they had surrendered the leases on their premises at the start of the crisis.

“Some have not been back to their premises and were not aware the council had written to them offering help,” he said. “Where businesses did apply many report that they got money through within a few days or a week. The maximum wait was 14 days.”

Dudley

In Dudley, the authority was yet to pay 711 businesses, and said that work is ongoing.

Councillor Steve Clark, cabinet member for finance at Dudley Council said: “The council has successfully handed out £50m in grants to thousands of businesses.

"To date 86 per cent of businesses we think could be eligible for a business grant have applied for and been awarded a grant.

“There are around 100 applications we are investigating queries on and a further 80 applications have been referred to the Valuation Office Agency for them to consider rating issues.

"Another 44 applications have been received since last Friday (June 5) and these are currently being processed.

“We do know, however, there are businesses which are eligible for a grant, but have not yet applied and I would encourage them all to do so as soon as possible.”

Walsall

Walsall Council said they are chasing companies, and 87 per cent of businesses have now been given the grants.

A spokesman for Walsall Council said: "Government awarded budgets to local authorities based upon the Government's estimated cost for the administration of their new Small Business Grant programme at the time of award, which for Walsall was £53.6m, however; and this is the case for many local authorities, this exceeds what is anticipated by them to be the actual cost for this programme.

"For example; in Walsall we estimate that the small grants programme will actually cost around £45.3m and include up to 4,105 grant payments at various levels. From our records, so far we have received 3,914 applications representing 95.3 per cent of those anticipated, as of June 9.

"We continue to chase applications from companies on held on our records as business rate payers, together with revising the numbers expected to submit as we better understand if these businesses are still active and trading within Walsall.

"So far of the 3,914 applications received, 3,577 (87 per cent) have been cleared for payment, resulting in £40.3m now paid out to local businesses throughout the borough, which, when compared to the actual projected cost of £45.3m represents an 89 per cent payment value, so both indicators are above the national average quoted at 86 per cent.

"Of the 337 not processed for payment; 215 have been refused because they failed to meet the eligibility criteria as set by the Government, many of which are now submitting applications into the new discretionary grants programme, which has more flexible eligibility criteria.

"Of the 122 remaining; 43 applications have been made by businesses where the applicants name is not the one held within our records, so further clarification is being sought. For the balance of 79, these are being further investigated for a variety of reasons where clarification is required prior to assessment and subsequent payment, we are continuing to receive applications through our on-line portals, which remain open.

"You recall that the Government awarded Walsall Council £53.6m, the cost of the grants programme is estimated at £45.3m, with the new discretionary programme budget allocated by government set at around £2.3m (five per cent of the estimated budget as of the 4.05.20 at £46.1m). So adding these two together both programmes will cost £47.6m, the balance of funding, some £6m we are told we will be required to return this to government.

"We are monitoring the discretionary grants demand, and if this exceeds the budget allocation of £2.3m we will be requesting permission to utilise some of the £6m budget balance to support local Walsall businesses."

Cannock Chase

Cannock Chase Council was yet to pay 199 businesses, but had given 90 per cent of those earmarked grants.

A spokesman for Cannock Chase Council said: “We are pleased to report that we have paid out nearly 90 per cent of this grant to local businesses since it was made available by government, putting us above the national average.

"Staff have worked hard to support eligible businesses and worked at weekends initially to get things moving quickly.

“Our estimate is that there are 192 businesses yet to receive payment. Of these there are 39 `under enquiry` as we have not been provided will all that we need in order to pay, and the remaining 153 have simply not responded to us despite having been written to and chased by email and phone wherever we can.

"Some may have left their premises without telling us. In other cases the businesses will have decided that they don’t qualify and so have not applied.”

Stafford

And Stafford Borough Council said remaining businesses have not got back in touch.

Councillor Mike Smith, cabinet member for resources at Stafford Borough Council, said: “We have delivered more than £23 m pounds to over 1,900 businesses.

"We have contacted all the businesses and of those remaining 163 have either not got in touch with us - despite repeated requests - told us that they don’t want the grant, or have stopped trading, so there is nothing more we can do.

"And we are currently waiting on the details we need to be able to pay the 51 that are left.”