Bassetlaw District Council hands more than £47million in Covid grants, new figures reveal

The funding came as part of numerous Government grants and support schemes launched during the coronavirus pandemic to keep businesses afloat during lockdowns and local restrictions.

Tens of thousands of payments were made by councils during the two years to March 2022, with councils saying the support has allowed local traders to keep their heads above water at a time when they were “hit hardest”.

Figures from six out of eight distributing authorities in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire show councils distributed at least £285 million over the past two years.

Bassetlaw District Council had the highest of all the responding district and borough authorities.

It said £47,458,338 was paid out in 11,979 individual payments across 12 grant schemes.

Mansfield Council stated 8,839 payments have been made over the past two years.

Both Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood councils did not respond to requests for figures.

However, Government data shows both authorities will have distributed at least £25m each, meaning councils across Nottinghamshire will have issued more than £335m in grants since the pandemic began.

The funding was provided to local authorities from Whitehall to distribute to traders, with eligible businesses, traders and the self-employed required to apply to their council for individual payments.

As of March 19, 2022, all Government business grant schemes had closed, with no Covid restrictions in place across England.

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