More than £4 million was handed out to hospitality and leisure businesses on the Isle of Wight through the government’s latest Covid support grants — but more than £1 million went unclaimed.
The ‘Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant’ provided one-off payments, of up to £6,000, to shops, offices, pubs and similar businesses.
Targeted towards hospitality and leisure sectors
The grants were targeted towards the accommodation, hospitality and leisure sectors, because of impact of the rise of Omicron Covid-19 cases.
The highly transmissible variant forced many to work from home and saw Christmas celebrations cancelled, meaning businesses lost out on trade through last-minute cancellations.
In December, the Island’s public health director Simon Bryant urged us to take sensible precautions and stressed the importance of breaking the chain of transmission as quickly as possible, as he warned Omicron would become the dominant strain.
4,300 new cases in December
In that month, more than 4,300 new Covid cases were identified on the Island.
The Isle of Wight council was allocated more than £5.4 million to distribute to businesses, with any remaining money being sent back to the government.
County Hall says £4,349,081 was paid out, after letters were sent to eligible businesses and appeals were made on social media.
However, £1,057,444 was never claimed.
Previous Covid-19 funding was automatically paid to businesses and there was no need to apply for the cash.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Images Money under CC BY 2.0
