Struggling businesses in Aberdeen have started receiving more grants from the city council, after it was revealed that the authority had dished out the least financial assistance of any in Scotland.
The council and its leadership attracted strong criticism from city MSP Kevin Stewart in past weeks, as he accused them of “letting businesses down” by failing to pay out as much cash as others.
But the local authority has now turned the situation around, and have claimed they were always performing in line with counterparts.
The latest Scottish Government figures show 82% of firms in Aberdeen applying for emergency aid to stay afloat during the pandemic have been successful.
Week-on-week, that accounts for a sharp rise of 13% in the pay-out rate, as Aberdeen floundered at the foot of the national tables only seven days ago.
But the improvement has not been achieved by a rush to rubber stamp an inbox full of applications.
In the last week the council has denied 280 pleas for help due to them being duplicates or because the companies asking were from outside of the city.
By comparison, only another 81 funding applications have been granted, worth more than £1m.
Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden: “These latest figures show what we have always said – that we are in line with all other local authorities.
“This has been us tidying up the pile of applications to remove duplicates and requests for funding from companies in Aberdeenshire who have applied with us by mistake.
“We have cleaned up the applications and now we have a true reflection of where we are.
“The main priority for us is getting the money out the door to struggling businesses.”
Overall the local authority has paid out £21.37m in emergency funding.
The clear out has brought Aberdeen much closer to its north-east neighbours – as Aberdeenshire and Highland sit on 87% while Moray has paid out on 86% of requests.
Overall the four councils have issued nearly £134.7m since the introduction of the aid.
Orkney Islands is now the worst performing in Scotland, paying out on 74% of live applications.
Grants available include single payments of £10,000 for small businesses or £25,000 for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure companies, and awards of £7,500 or £18,750 for any other qualifying properties.
Town House officials previously claimed they were trying to help around a fifth of firms with outstanding claims as they were not immediately eligible for the cash.
Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart, who is also the SNP’s local government minister, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
But Liberal Democrat group leader Ian Yuill called for an end to the “political point scoring” on the matter.
Mr Yuill said: “I’m certainly not one to defend the council administration but it was unfair to blame them for implementing a Scottish Government scheme.
“It’s not the council’s fault if businesses don’t qualify.
“The important thing is we all work together for our city as that is what is expected and people are frankly sickened at the games being played.”
