AT least £75m allocated by Stormont for emergency coronavirus business support grants has not yet been spent, the Department for the Economy (DfE) has confirmed.
A total of £410m was allocated for three separate grants to help businesses survive the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Two larger schemes closed three weeks ago on May 20, while the deadline for the third is 6pm today (Friday).
The bulk of the funding, some £370 million, was set aside for a £10,000 grant for small businesses and a £25,000 payment for retail, tourism and hospitality firms.
The smaller grant was made available for businesses operating in a premises with a rateable value below £15,000, while the latter applied to a smaller cohort of premises with a rateable value between £15,001 to £50,000.
DfE said yesterday that £300m in total had been paid out via both schemes.
Some 22,870 businesses successfully applied for the £10,000 scheme (£228.7m), with another 2,904 payments issued under the £25,000 programme, totalling £71.3m.
Economy Minister Diane Dodds later announced that another £40m had been secured for a third programme, specifically aimed at micro businesses, i.e. companies with 1-9 employees.
That third scheme will close this evening. As of Thursday afternoon, DfE said there had been 3,500 applications for the NI Micro-business Hardship Fund.
It offers payments of £5,000 and £10,000 depending on whether a firm pays business rates.
Asked about the issue of unspent funds in front of the Assembly’s ad hoc Covid-19 committee, Diane Dodds said her department is currently assessing any unspent funds.
“Any underspend in relation to these funds is ring-fenced,” she said.
“It will go back in the centre and it will then be for the Executive and the finance minister to say how much is being made available for further help to businesses.
“As soon as that process is concluded, I will be very happy to identify other areas of the economy to the Executive and the finance minister where help will be needed.”
A Department for the Economy spokesperson also said yesterday: “Officials are considering the outworking of the three grant schemes.
“The Minister intends to bring forward a paper to the Executive in due course setting out potential options for supporting the economy in the coming period.”
