Scarborough Council has paid out more than £43m in grants to support businesses across the borough

The Government has released figures of how much all local authorities have distributed from the combined £12.3 billion pool Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund.

As of Sunday, Scarborough Council had paid out £43,170,000 via 3,720 individual grants from the £68,310,000 earmarked for the borough.

There are an estimated 5,717 businesses in the borough eligible for a grant, though all businesses may not have applied.

The council said it has been working every day of the week, including evenings and the recent bank holidays, to process the payments and will continue to do so until every business eligible for a grant has received their payment.

A council spokesman has previously called on those who have applied to be ready to provide more information if needed.

They said: “Many forms have been relatively straightforward to process but around 900 are requiring additional dialogue with the business concerned.

“This is due to a number of reasons, including duplicate forms submitted, different bank details provided to those the council already has on file for a business and in some cases, forms submitted for properties that weren’t being used for business purposes prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Where further clarification is required before a grant can be paid, the council is calling business owners directly. Any business owner seeing the council’s number, 01723 232323, on their caller display, should answer the call to help the council process the grant as swiftly as possible.”

Businesses can find out more information on grant eligibility and submit a data form online via the coronavirus page at scarborough.gov.uk.