£330m in Omicron grants unspent by councils ahead of cut-off

Firms in England impacted by the Omicron variant are believed to have received less than half of the £635m support package promised by government, it has emerged.

Analysis of government data by real estate adviser Altus Group found that just £305m of the £635m distributed to 309 English councils had been paid out less than three weeks before the final cut-off for applications on 18 March.

Firms in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors saw a massive decline in footfall and increased cancellations over the vital Christmas and New Year period last year, which the grant was intended to help with.

Under the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme, councils received funding to be allocated in one-off grants worth up to £6,000 to be paid to hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses in England based on the rateable value of their properties.

Altus Group said its analysis revealed that 29 councils had failed to distribute a single penny, while a further 89 councils had distributed less than half of their total allocation in grant funding to those firms hardest hit.

Carlisle City Council and East Herts District Council had both paid less than £1 for every £10 of the funding that they had received.

But seven councils, including the London Borough of Barnet, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Leicester City Council, Warrington Borough Council, Bury Council, Burnley Borough Council and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, had actually paid out more in grants than they had received from government ahead of the scheme closing for applications.

Robert Hayton, UK president of Altus Group, called it a "postcode lottery", adding: "These types of businesses saw one of their most valuable trading periods wiped out and simply didn't get the support they needed quickly enough. I just hope councils rallied at the end".

All final awards and grant payments had to be made to eligible firms by 31 March 2022. The government said that "any monies paid after this date will not be reimbursed under this scheme and the local authority will be liable for this amount".

It also emerged last week that two-thirds of councils had failed to distribute business rates relief funds, leaving most of the £1.5b government-funded Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund package unclaimed.

Photo: Shutterstock