Hundreds of Hampshire firms 'could be saved' if government allows councils to keep emergency cash
HUNDREDS of businesses ‘could be saved’ if the government answers council leaders’ calls to let them pump millions into the economy instead of risk sending the cash back to Whitehall.
Firms across the Portsmouth area have secured a raft of grants since lockdown was imposed, saving them from bankruptcy and closure while trading stopped or slowed – securing jobs for the future.
Councils in Portsmouth, Havant, Fareham and Gosport were handed £99.5m to administer two main grant schemes.
Companies that were not eligible, such as B&Bs and small charities, are now able to apply for cash from a third fund - called a local authority discretionary grant.
Council leaders have pointed out they have a combined £20m left unclaimed from the two main schemes - but the government allows them to only spend a fraction of this on discretionary payments of between £2,500 and £10,000 to small and micro firms.
Any money in the main two schemes that is unclaimed must be returned to the government – but councils in the area have united to ask it be acceptable to move this into the third fund instead – and save more businesses.
Both Fareham leader Sean Woodward, a Conservative, and his Liberal Democrat counterpart Gerald Vernon-Jackson in Portsmouth, have asked the government to let them spend more on businesses at risk.
They believe this will save hundreds more companies, and secure jobs.
Cllr Woodward said: ‘We could save hundreds of businesses from failure and potentially hundreds of employees.
‘My plea is just let us use what's left of the grant fund rather than limiting it to £1m.'
Cllr Vernon-Jackson has written to a minister raising the issue. He said: ‘If that’s the difference between keeping firms alive or not, we should be looking to keep firms alive and keep the economy going.
‘That’s what our duty should be. I’ve talked to firms in Portsmouth who don’t qualify for any of the previous funds but are in a very precarious state.’
Gosport leader Mark Hook said he didn't disagree with Cllrs Woodward and Vernon-Jackson and added: ‘We're trying to help as many businesses as we possibly can.’
The discretionary scheme is for small and micro businesses with ongoing property-related costs that have not been eligible for other government business support schemes or self-employment income support.
Councils are variously giving priority to small businesses in shared offices, regular market traders with storage costs, bed and breakfasts that pay council tax, some charity properties, businesses that provide a community benefit, those that support the town centre and businesses whose loss would be detrimental to the borough.
Stephen Brownlie, centre director at Fareham Innovation Centre, a business centre at Daedalus, said the change was needed.
He said: ‘Many of the businesses at Fareham Innovation Centre have been eligible for help however some with shared office space have fallen between the cracks.’
Becky Lodge, who runs Little Kanga, a marketing business based at Fareham Innovation Centre, said firms fear they’ve ‘been missed’ from earlier funding.
Becky also runs Start-Up Disruptors - a business support group for small and start-up businesses that has more than 2,500 members.
She said: ‘It’s imperative the government supports micro and small businesses owners as the journey out of furlough progresses and to ensure that the future of our small business community is secure locally.
‘The pandemic has presented a double whammy to small business owners and my fear is that many will not survive.
‘In our business community group, those without formal business premises, freelancers, home workers and micro business owners feel they have been missed and this discretionary grant would go some way to helping people maintain a basic standard of living.’
She encouraged people to get in touch with the council to see if they are eligible and also called on the government to help home workers and freelancers, who have lost business but have not received any formal support.
Becky added: ‘Having myself experienced having Covid-19; survived and been out of the business for over two months in recovery, it’s imperative that we are supported as fully as possible in this time of transition, or many small businesses will simply cease to exist.’
Portsmouth received £41.32m in grants and has so far paid out £35.61m under the two main grant schemes. Of the £5.71m left to be claimed, at the moment only £1.9m can be used for the discretionary fund.
Havant received £25m from the government, and has paid out £13.79m. It still has £860,250 of new money to spend on discretionary payments, and £10.35m left for the main funds.
Gosport has paid out £11.5m of the £13m it received, and is currently allowed to spend £612,000 on its discretionary fund of the leftover £1.5m.
Fareham has spent nearly £17m of the £20m funding it received, and has £1m to spend on discretionary funding.
Businesses must apply in the next two weeks, with cut offs for Havant on June 11 and June 16 in Fareham.
Portsmouth and Gosport have not yet launched applications.
The News contacted the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy for comment.
A Solent LEP spokeswoman said: ‘The Solent LEP welcomes the government announcement of a top-up to the local business grant funds scheme, which will enable certain small businesses that have previously been outside the scope of the funds to access financial support from their local council.
‘We are working together with all councils across the area and forecasts suggest the new funds are likely to be oversubscribed as a result of the current five per cent cap on the top-up funding.
‘We are now working with our council colleagues to seek additional flexibility from the government to remove the cap on new funding and enable provision of additional investment in areas where demand is greater.’