York Council speeds up coronavirus grant payments for local businesses

Council leaders have reassured the city’s businesses that the council is delivering on its promise to accelerate payments of government grants.

Over £7m had been paid by close of play yesterday (Thursday 9 April), meaning payment rates have increased every day this week.

Staff are working through the bank holiday to make sure that this rate of acceleration continues. Staff are working through the bank holiday to make sure that this rate of acceleration continues. Over £25 million (subject to some applications being held where there is concern about fraud) additional will be waiting for banks to process when they reopen on Tuesday.

The council has received nearly 3000 applications and has been working to speed up a process which includes government-defined requirements to:

  • collect company information including VAT registration details
  • clear every application through the government’s anti-fraud systems
  • verify bank details and company identity

The government has now issued new guidance and offered support with post-payment checks to help councils speed things up.

Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:

“Getting this money into accounts quickly – and securely – is a priority. Local authorities across the country are working to balance quick payments with checks to stop the fraudsters who are sickeningly trying to take advantage of these unprecedented circumstances.

“We continue to review our practice every day, share experience with other local authorities, redeploy staff and make daily improvements to accelerate payments.”

On wider support for business, Councillor Aspden added:

“We have acted quickly to get support to our businesses. We applied £66m of business rates relief to 4000 accounts in a matter of days, and grant payment values have doubled every day this week.

“Like businesses up and down the country, we’ve had to do this while operating many of our secure systems and customer service operations from staff’s homes and with lower staff levels. 

“We’ve developed an emergency grants scheme for the many York businesses who miss out on government support and deferred rent for all our commercial tenants, and have spoken up for business at a national level since this crisis began.

“This helped to secure more support for our 12,000 self-employed people, as well as improvements to the business interruption loan scheme.”

Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for the Economy and Strategic Planning, said:

“These 3500 businesses are worth around £2bn to York’s economy and create thousands of jobs. We understand that importance of getting this money where it is needed most – into the accounts of our city’s businesses.

“I’ve been talking to businesses and partners, and to the officers faced with designing and delivering a secure and quick distribution of around £114m of government relief to businesses.

“I’ve always assured businesses that we’ll do everything we can to gather pace. This is happening, and will continue until every business has its grant.

“We’re providing a range of support, advice and guidance for businesses, including free advertising across our local media for any businesses still operating.

“For all the support available please visit www.york.gov.uk/BusinessSupport.”

Coronavirus York updates – 10th April 2020

Food

The council says, it “is connecting residents with a wide range needs, from those unable to get an online delivery slot to those who would normally rely on food banks, to food suppliers. Where possible we are supporting local businesses by highlighting those in operation.

This involves a regular check with local suppliers to connect people with the means to pay to the businesses still operating in their area. We use this list to signpost callers who reach us through the COV-19 helpline. We are finding that the information on which businesses operate and their capacity is changing on a daily basis, so printed lists will be out of date very quickly, and for larger print runs before they are distributed.

Those suppliers with confidence in their stocks and delivery arrangements are encouraged to add their listing to the council-sponsored listings at www.yorkmix.com/yorkbiz . This listing is growing daily”.

The list referred to still falls short of requirements.

It is framed as mini adverts which maybe fine for the businesses themselves but not for customers.

It falls short in not providing a comprehensive database – which gives all options for contactless ways of buying and having doorstep deliveries of food and medicines.

Pharmacies and supermarkets are a key part of the supply chain.

Funerals

Changing the way York Crematorium provides cremation services has been a very difficult and sad decision for the City of York Council to make, but necessary in light of public health concerns. We have listened to the advice around increasing numbers of Coronavirus cases in York, regionally and nationally, having yet reached the peak period of infection for the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Following further discussions with funeral directors and clergy, we will now be allowing one celebrant or minister to perform a short service, that will be filmed free of any charge.

We have attached our statement and updated FAQs for your information.

Micro-grants for businesses

A £1m City of York Council support fund for small and micro businesses which don’t qualify for government support has now been fully launched, with applications now open.

The City of York Council micro business grants scheme will deliver grants of up to £1000 into 1000 self-employed, micro and small businesses who need it most. 

Applications can be made through https://www.york.gov.uk/COVIDMicroGrant and are available to businesses which:

  • have 50 or fewer employees, including one person business/self-employed;
  • need support adapting to new trading arrangements;
  • are experiencing financial hardship due to coronavirus, and
  • do not qualify for any other government grant or rate relief support packages.

The latest information for business is available at www.york.gov.uk/BusinessSupport.

PPE business ask

We are appealing to the Government for additional personal protective equipment (PPE), and asking local businesses for any spare PPE, so it can be used by the authority’s care workers.

Although the council’s care teams currently have sufficient PPE, stocks nationally are running low, and priority is being given to NHS staff.

All our care workers are following national government guidance on the PPE they need to wear. In a similar way to NHS staff, care staff need to use PPE to keep themselves safe from the risk of infection. The items we need are disposable plastic aprons, gloves, black bags, masks, eye protection goggles, alcohol based hand sanitiser and hard surface wipes.

Anyone who thinks they may have useful PPE is asked to email PPE@york.gov.uk. We thank everyone for their support. In fact a number of businesses have stepped forward already, to whom we are incredibly grateful of what is another demonstration of York’s community spirit.

An update on homelessness

From 23 March we have provided 11 households and 12 single homeless people temporary accommodation. While very few of these cases were connected to coronavirus, as a precaution and with support from local organisations, their accommodation meets social distancing criteria.

All the rough sleepers we are supporting are already known to us. The vast majority have accepted the accommodation which each and every one is being offered. We continue to work hard to persuade them all to come into accommodation and to stay in it while the emergency continues.

We have not yet received any additional Government money relating to homelessness to date, nor have we been told how much York will receive.

Virtual libraries

Thanks to £17K of extra funding from City of York Council, Explore is now able to extend the current range of virtual services to support individuals, families and communities of York during the Coronavirus emergency to help people whilst they stay at home.

The extra funding means Explore can now extend what is on offer:

  • Press Reader. Explore will buy a 12 month subscription to Press Reader This will provide  access to over 7000 daily newspaper and magazine titles from more than 100 countries.  
  • More e-books and e-audiobooks
  • Specialist conferencing software to bring people together in a virtual space and invite them to challenge their imagination in new ways.
  • Support with getting online