THE Department for the Economy has been urged to extend the deadline for a Covid-19 business support grant after a significant number of businesses were rejected by Stormont’s main scheme.
The Department of Finance’s Localised Restrictions Support Scheme (LRSS) offers between £800 and £1,600 for week for premises forced to close under the health regulations.
As of yesterday it had attracted 16,651 applications. While £53.72 million has been paid out to 8,759 businesses, one-in-four applications (4,517) have been rejected.
Many have been redirected to the Department for the Economy’s smaller Coronavirus Restrictions Business Support Scheme (CRBSS), which was set up for traders unable to apply to the LRSS.
But the CRBSS officially closed for applications last night.
The SDLP’s economy spokesperson, Sinead McLaughlin, said the issue was particularly prevalent in the Derry and Strabane district.
In a written response to the Foyle MLA, Finance Minister Conor Murphy disclosed that 783 of 1,502 applications to the LRSS had been rejected as of December 15.
A further 147 applications were lodged in the district following the expansion of the scheme to include non-essential retail, with 84 of those businesses successful.
The LRSS was first introduced on October 14 for businesses in Derry and Strabane forced to close on October 5. It was extended to hospitality and close contact premises across the north on October 19 after wider restrictions came into effect on October 16.
Operated by Northern Ireland’s rate collection agency, Land and Property Services (LPS), the LRSS budget was increased from £35m to £90m in November.
But the pace of the scheme has attracted criticism.
Sinead McLaughlin has called on Economy Minister Diane Dodds to extend the CRBSS deadline and urged Finance Minister Conor Murphy to operate “a speedy appeals process for rejected applicants”.
In a statement, a DoF spokesperson confirmed 25 per cent of applications were deemed ineligible.
“One of the most common is that duplicate applications have been made.
“In many cases incorrect information has been supplied, for example, a large number of applications related to the wrong address.
“LPS cannot provide payment to a business if they've supplied incorrect information on their form.”
The Department for the Economy was contacted for comment.
