Huntingdonshire District Council has successfully delivered the latest round of business support grants, distributing around £1.38 million to local businesses
The business support schemes were created in response to the Omicron wave of COVID-19 that impacted businesses throughout the festive period of 2021 and into January 2022. The District Council designed and administered two separate schemes – the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant, providing over £1 million to local businesses, and the Additional Restrictions Grant – January 2022, which awarded £334,000.
Executive Leader of the Council, Cllr Ryan Fuller, said: “We take our responsibility to support local businesses very seriously which is why throughout the pandemic we proactively and efficiently distributed government support funds through each scheme as it was created. We have administered payments totally £1.38 million to around 471 local businesses, through the Omicron-response schemes, and have also recently distributed another £1 million through our Growth Grant and Digital Business Grant schemes.
“We have now distributed over £90 million of grants and business rate reliefs to Huntingdonshire businesses to support them through the pandemic.”
In total, the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme was accessed by 304 local businesses, supporting rates-paying businesses in the accommodation, hospitality and leisure sectors that were severely impacted by the rise of the Omicron variant. The Additional Restrictions Grant – January 2022 provided support to 167 non-rates paying Huntingdonshire businesses.