£2000 Covid support grant for businesses affected by coronavirus pandemic is ‘slap in face’ for worst hit firms, argues Highland councillor

LIFELINE £2000 grants for businesses that have fallen through the gaps of past Covid support are a “slap in the face” gesture that will do little to help the worst affected, a councillor has warned.

Cromarty Firth councillor Maxine Smith was speaking as Highland Council approved plans to hand out some £1.5 million in emergency Scottish Government support.

In a bid to make the grants reach as many small and medium-sized businesses as quickly as possible, the council has adopted recommendations to hand-out fixed sums of £2000 – ensuring more than 760 applicants will be able to benefit from them.

But some councillors pushed back at this move, arguing that some businesses and sectors had been worse hit than others, and called for greater flexibility to award larger sums on a case-by-case basis – rather than a flat grant of £2000 for all applicants.

Tain and Easter Ross councillor Derek Louden, who floated the idea, called for a cross-party working group to be set up to enable greater discretion to be used when awarding some of the money.

Citing the impact of the collapse of cruise ship trade as an example, he said some small businesses had lost 100 per cent of their revenue.

Cllr Smith, who is not on the committee, but was addressing it as a concerned ward councillor, also highlighted the impact of the collapsing cruise trade. She stressed that, unlike some businesses which were able to generate revenue last summer when lockdown restrictions were lifted, the cruise industry did not return to normal, and there was no sign of improvements in the sector in 2021.

She added: "To me it’s not just about the cruise sector, to me it’s about any business that has lost out by 100 per cent, as in completely wiped out, closed down. And to me they should take priority."

She continued: "So to me there does need to be discretion. I think that is really important, and I like the idea Cllr Louden raised earlier.

"Because if you give businesses that have closed for the whole of the last 12 months, a £2000 one-off payment, it’s like a slap in the face, when every other business in Scotland has got much more. It’s just unfair. It’s not right at all."

She added that if speed was an issue and it could not be done in phase one of the new grants, then she "implored" councillors to make greater discretion part of the second phase.

However, the meeting also heard from council officers that the thinking behind the flat £2000 rate was for simplicity and speed, ensuring the cash reached as many businesses in need as quickly as possible.

Nairn and Cawdor councillor Peter Saggers said that what officers had suggested "has the great benefit of being simple", adding: "We must concentrate on making it simple to administer, and for applicants to apply."

Black Isle councillor Gordon Adam agreed with Cllr Saggers, arguing that if there were exceptions it could lead to "all sorts of appeals and it would be very difficult to administer".

"It seems to me rather important that the delivery of this is done quickly", he added, arguing that making it discretionary would pile a lot of extra work on stretched council officers.

But he added that "in the grand scheme of things it's not a lot, it really isn't, especially as it's a one-off payment" and asked that, if there was money left over after phase one, could the council consider top-up grants for those in greatest need.

Councillors voted 11-5 in favour of a flat £2000 rate, instead of Cllr Louden’s call for greater flexibility.

Speaking afterwards, committee chairwoman Trish Robertson said: "The council has fulfilled a key role in delivering, on behalf of the Scottish Government, a number of grant schemes. To date our team of staff have processed grants of approximately £85m to over 8000 businesses.

“A benefit of this new discretionary grant is that it is not sector specific but is wide ranging and therefore potentially offers support for a wide range of businesses.

“Following approval today, we will now be finalising the guidance and preparing the online application form, with the aim to launch the grant scheme during the week commencing February 8.”

Related news: New figures reveal devastating financial impact of Covid-19 in the Highlands

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