£20 million paid to Wolverhampton businesses amid coronavirus crisis

A total of 1,857 have received a slice of the Government grants, with a further 736 currently being processed for the vital funds.

The money has been handed out through the Small Business Grant Fund and Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund by Wolverhampton Council.

Councillor Harman Banger, cabinet member for city economy, said: "We are doing everything we can to support our small businesses to access this money including proactively contacting businesses who are eligible and increasing the number of council staff working on processing the grants.

"If you’ve already filled in an online form but haven’t received your grant payment yet, please bear with us.

"We have staff on hand to support businesses who require help and advice with the online process."

Council staff are currently dealing with a high volume of calls and are working to update the records as quickly as possible.

Businesses are then contacted and invited to confirm their eligibility for a grant.

Thorough eligibility checks are also carried out before the cash can be paid out to prevent any fraudulent claims.

Small business grant funding of £10,000 is available for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief – and have a rateable value of £15,000 or less.

Grant funding of £10,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses is available for property with a rateable value of £15,000 or below.

And grant funding of £25,000 is on offer for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,001 and £50,999

A dedicated phone line set up to provide business support has already dealt with more than 2,600 calls, chiefs have said.

Anyone with any business support queries should call 01902 290242 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays.

For more information visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus.