A government minister has claimed Aberdeen businesses are being let down by their council – as around two in every five applications for grants to help them through lockdown have been left in limbo.
Little more than 60% of Granite City firms applying for support have so far been given cash, according to the latest Scottish Government figures.
Only South Lanarkshire has performed worse, with 57% of applications paid out on, and the statistics leave the city council well behind Highland and neighbours Aberdeenshire, who have both paid out on 82% of applications, while Moray has delivered on 80%.
Aberdeen evens trails the smaller authorities in the north, with Argyll and Bute, Western Isles, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands councils issuing more grants proportionately.
Aberdeenshire Council, which had received 3,336 applications by Tuesday, had paid out £31.7 million, while £45.3 million had been issued after 4,898 inquiries from Highland firms.
Town House sources in Aberdeen claim their “amazing efforts” are being vastly undersold by the headline figures and expressed disgust that anyone would attack them in a time of pandemic.
Those figures show just £17.1 million has been awarded to Aberdeen businesses and that of the 2,266 funding bids made in the city, only 1,371 had resulted in pay outs – about 60%.
It is understood another 35% have been deferred or rejected – with 450 applications still considered open and likely to end in payment.
Around 200 cases, it is thought, cannot be determined until the Scottish Government advises council officials on eligibility.
The government’s weekly business support funding statistics reflect none of these elements.
Regardless, the situation on paper in Scotland’s third largest city has led to one government minister calling for the council to “get the finger out”.
Aberdeen Central SNP MSP Kevin Stewart told The P&J: “It is extremely disappointing that Aberdeen City Council is one of the worst performing local authorities in terms of distributing the monies provided by the Scottish Government for grant support to businesses.
“The money is there for the specific purpose of supporting hard-pressed companies through the pandemic, but quite simply the council is letting local businesses down compared to their counterparts like Aberdeenshire, where nearly double the sum of money has been given out.
The local government minister added: “The council’s Tory/Labour administration needs to get the finger out and ensure our city’s businesses get the support they so desperately need to survive, to safeguard jobs and to support the Aberdeen economy.”
The Scottish Government unveiled more than £1 billion in grants to help the worst-affected businesses make it through pandemic.
These were initially in the form of one-off £10,000 payments for small businesses and £25,000 cash injections for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure companies.
However, after much protest from business leaders, the scheme was expanded to allow additional grants of £7,500 or £18,750 for businesses’ other qualifying properties.
The relief package is linked to the business rates system and as such, the funding applications are processed and money issued by councils.
Last night Conservative co-leader of the council Douglas Lumsden said: “We have processed 95% applications received and these have all been dealt with within the agreed timeline.
“For a Scottish Government minister to launch an attack on hard-working officers at a time of a global pandemic is an absolute disgrace.
“Kevin Stewart should apologise to those council staff immediately.
“We are continuing to work with businesses to ensure we have all the correct details to make as many payments as possible.”
