Small businesses receive £21.3bn in Covid-19 grants through local authority scheme

Smaller businesses across England received £21.3 billion through the government’s Covid-19 Local Authority Business Support Grants scheme, a new report has shown.

Micro, small, and medium sized firms across different business sectors benefited from the funds available under the scheme, with the wholesale and retail sectors getting the second largest share of the funds at £3.5bn.

Over one-third of all available funding, £8.2bn, was allocated to the accommodation and food services sector, a part of the economy hit hardest by the pandemic.

The scheme was created by the UK government and administered by local authorities to support businesses during and to recover from the impact of the global pandemic, with all regions in England found to have allocated most of their total available funds to businesses in need.

“Our amazing small businesses are the backbone of our economy and their efforts both during and since the pandemic have been heroic,” Small Business Minister Jane Hunt said.

“In many cases, Local Authority Business Support Grants were essential to businesses who found themselves really struggling and who are now able to recover, grow, and look to the future. By putting billions of pounds into business recovery, we have stood by our commitment to our small businesses and the communities, families, and livelihoods they form a key part of.”

Firms operating in arts and entertainment, recreation, and other services industries were also among the different business sectors to receive substantial help under the scheme. A full breakdown of allocations is below:

*Other Services includes the activities of membership organisations, the repair of personal and household goods and a variety of personal service activities not covered elsewhere in classifications.