We have sped up how we are processing emergency payments to those businesses who qualify for emergency grant funding, with the vast majority of applications received now paid.

Grants, unlike loans, do not have to be repaid by eligible businesses that receive them.

Additional staff have been put into the team paying the Small Business Grants and over 80% of the 2,300 businesses that have applied so far have been paid. The process has to be thorough to ensure businesses applying are eligible and that there are no fraudulent claims. The Council has asked 300 applicants to provide further details and the process for all of these should be complete next week.

Once payment is confirmed by email, the payment is made via BACS so will be 3 working days to clear from receiving the email.

Anyone who applied more than 7 days ago and has not yet been paid should check their email inbox for essential information from the Business Rates team.

The grants of £10,000 or £25,000 are being paid urgently to businesses across Torbay in order to financially support them throughout this challenging period. The £10,000 grants are for small businesses that are eligible for small business rate relief, while the £10,000 or 25,000 grants are for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure industry with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000.

Steve Darling, Torbay Council’s Leader said: “Torbay Council has rolled up their sleeves to achieve an 80% pay out rate to local businesses. The usual Business Rates team of 6 has swelled to a team of 30 staff, with workers redeployed from other areas and working through weekends to ensure that payments are made quickly.”

Around 1,000 potentially eligible businesses still haven’t registered for the grant and we would urge these businesses to go online and fill in the appropriate forms and review the full range of financial support packages for businesses on offer. 

Councillor Darren Cowell, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “Our team is working really hard to process thousands of applications and are doing this as fast as they can, working around the clock. We know it’s a really difficult time for everyone and we want to make sure people get the money they need as quickly as possible.”

TDA and Torbay Council are actively reaching out to those businesses who have not applied for the funding to date. TDA offers general business advice. To find out more visit the TDA website. 

Additionally a new Government portal for all business support can be found on their website. 

Torbay Council would like to thank those staff for their help in achieving a huge effort which is currently ongoing. A big thank you goes out to staff from these areas who have lent a hand including Exchequer and Benefits, Finance, Internal Audit, Children’s Services and TDA.

• If you have not received an email by the 25^th April please email financial.services@torbay.gov.uk after that date, quoting your business rates number and business name.