Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government has released figures for the worst- and best-performing local authorities in England when it comes to handing out coronavirus business grants.
Birmingham, Luton, Sandwell in the West Midlands, Slough, South Oxfordshire and Tunbridge Wells are the worst performing local authorities, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
Each of the six local authorities have only managed to pay out 11 per cent of their emergency coronavirus business grants allocation, totalling £408m between them.
>See also: How to get the government’s £10,000 cash grant for small businesses
Mike Cherry, national chairman of the FSB, said that some local authorities have only managed to get out between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of their total £12.3bn business support package. Any delay was “inexcusable”, he said.
The top three best-performing local authorities for getting the small business grants out are Winchester City Council, which has completely deployed its £29.2m funding allocation, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (98 per cent) and the London borough of Southwark (93 per cent).
Cherry added: “For many small businesses, access to these grants will decide the fate of their futures, and it’s excellent to see so many local authorities across England getting