More than £1.4 million in small business grants has already been paid to over 900 eligible City of Wolverhampton businesses within a month of the latest Government funding becoming available.

This relates to financial support - covering the Tier 2, second national lockdown and Tier 3 periods in Wolverhampton - under the mandatory Local Restriction Support Grants, Christmas Support Payments for wet-led pubs and the discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant.

Hundreds of applications continue to be dealt with and details on any of the grants, eligibility criteria and how to apply, can be found at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/businessgrants.

Councillor Stephen Simkins, Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy but have been hit hard by the pandemic.

“We are doing everything we can to make it as quick and easy as possible for our small businesses to access the grants available, this includes redeploying staff with appropriate financial systems knowledge from other parts of the council.

“I am urging Wolverhampton businesses to head to the Wolves in Business website and find out what funding is available to them.

“Over the course of the pandemic we have ensured thousands of eligible businesses have had quick access to vital funding to help them through this most difficult time.

“We are ensuring these new grants are allocated swiftly and that no business is left behind as our city looks to recover from the financial impact of Covid-19.”

All application forms submitted by businesses are subject to thorough eligibility checks.

Further communication with businesses may be necessary if any of the required information is missing.

If you need help with Local Restriction Support Grants or the Additional Restrictions Grant applications or have a general query, you can get in touch with the Council by emailing business.grants@wolverhampton.gov.uk or calling the business support phoneline on 01902 290242 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays. Christmas and New Year arrangements can be found at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/businessgrants.

Applications will still be accepted during the break between Christmas Day and New Year but businesses are being asked for their patience in waiting for them to be processed.

Full details of the latest Government business support measures can be found at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.