Nearly £1 million has been distributed to Inverclyde businesses affected by the coronavirus crisis through the Scottish Government Grant scheme.
A dedicated Inverclyde Council support team made the payments from an emergency grants scheme established to help prop up the local business community.
A total of 78 targeted payments totalling more than £855,000 were processed by Municipal Buildings staff on Wednesday.
The money is flowing from a special grants system set up by the Scottish Government in response to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.
Council leader Stephen McCabe said:
“The business support grant from the Scottish Government aims to support the many businesses closed down because of the stay at home measures across the country.
“Our finance team are working hard behind the scenes to do all of the necessary checks and to get this funding out to business as quickly as they can.
“Just today they have made 78 payments totalling over £855,000 in financial support to local business.”
“The new changes will increase demand and I would like to thank our local businesses for their patience as the team make sure that the right people get the money they should to support them at this extraordinary time.”
The payments came as the Scottish Government announced changes to the criteria of the scheme in response to feedback from businesses.
Around £220 million of further grants are being made available nationally for businesses — including the recently self-employed — to help them deal with the ongoing impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
The new measures are made up of a £120 million extension of the Small Business Grant Scheme and £100m to protect the self-employed.
Applications for this self-employed part of the scheme will be open at the end of this month and the new arrangement for grants to small businesses will be ready to receive applications on May 5.
