Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support fund grant statistics
Statistics on the coronavirus (COVID-19) business support fund grants including the number of awards granted and the value of these awards.
This document is part of a collection
By 31 March 2021, local authorities reported that over 107,000 applications have been received for the Small Business Grant Scheme and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grant Scheme across Scotland. Of these applications, over 91,000 grants valuing over £1,020m were awarded. The table below summarises the weekly payments of the business grant schemes, based on available information at the time. Grants awarded represents actual awards made and funds paid out. Not reflected in the published information are applications which have been processed by Local Authorities but not resulted in a grant awarded. For example, this could be because an ineligible applicant applied and was rejected.
The grant schemes closed to new applications on 10 July 2020.
Table: Cumulative total number of applications and grants paid by week
| Date |
Total number of applications |
Number of grants awarded |
Value of grants awarded (£m) |
| Up to 6 April 2020 |
49,214 |
7,650 |
£88,625,000 |
| Up to 14 April 2020 |
59,385 |
18,528 |
£215,445,000 |
| Up to 21 April 2020 |
72,105 |
33,176 |
£387,875,000 |
| Up to 28 April 2020 |
74,216 |
45,387 |
£526,260,000 |
| Up to 5 May 2020 |
a 71,177 |
53,765 |
£620,920,000 |
| Up to 12 May 2020 |
78,029 |
59,067 |
£679,131,250 |
| Up to 19 May 2020 |
81,781 |
64,912 |
£741,892,500 |
| Up to 26 May 2020 |
85,348 |
69,508 |
£790,551,250 |
| Up to 2 June 2020 |
87,839 |
72,622 |
£824,541,250 |
| Up to 9 June 2020 |
90,578 |
74,856 |
£848,735,000 |
| Up to 16 June 2020 |
93,736 |
77,424 |
£875,406,250 |
| Up to 23 June 2020 |
96,374 |
79,567 |
£897,906,250 |
| Up to 30 June 2020 |
98,435 |
81,780 |
£920.828,750 |
| Up to 7 July 2020 |
101,217 |
83,880 |
£942,689,550 |
| Up to 14 July 2020 2 |
105,585 |
86,505 |
£969,621,851 |
| Up to 4 August 2020 3 |
106,565 |
89,284 |
£998,236,385 |
| Up to 8 September 2020 3 |
106,632 |
90,792 |
£1,014,469,295 |
| Up to 8 December 2020 3 |
106,662 |
91,258 |
£1,019,526,016 |
| Up to 31 March 2021 3 |
107,750 |
91,429 |
£1,020,717,295 |
a The number of reported applications fell between 28 April and 5 May. This was due to an improvement in reporting, removing double counting from totals. Further details on this can be found in the “COVID-19 business support fund grant statistics – 31 March 2021” spreadsheet below.
2 The scheme closed to new applications on 10 July, but applications received by then continue to be processed.
3 While the scheme closed to new applications on 10 July, there was a number of last minute applications which had not been logged by 14 July, resulting in an increased number of applications being reported.
Background
So that funding could be distributed as quickly as possible, eligibility for the grant scheme was linked to the non-domestic rates system:
A £10,000 grant was available to non-domestic ratepayers with properties in receipt of:
- Small Business Bonus Scheme relief (SBBS) or Rural Relief
- Nursery Relief, Disabled Relief, Business Growth Accelerator, Sports Relief, Enterprise Areas Relief, Fresh Start Relief or Charitable Rate Relief but eligible for SBBS
In addition, Non domestic ratepayers with retail, hospitality or leisure properties with a rateable value up to £18,000 each, and the combined rateable value of all properties is between £35,001 and £500,000, were also eligible to apply for the small business grant (note: the upper cumulative rateable value limit changed on 8 June – previously this was set at £51,000)
A £25,000 grant was available to the ratepayers of properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with property with a rateable value between £18,001 - £51,000.
This grant was targeted at supporting small businesses, and those medium sized businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector, who are liable for non-domestic rates in order to maximise the number of businesses we can support.
Applications for grants on additional eligible properties opened from 5 May 2020. In addition to the 100% grant on the first property, ratepayers were also eligible for a 75% grant on each subsequent property that meets the criteria for each grant.
On 8 June, applications to the Small Business Grant Fund opened to small businesses that occupy spaces including shared offices, business incubators and shared industrial units and lease the space from the landlord who is the registered ratepayer of the property.
The Small Business Grant and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant schemes closed to new applications on 10 July 2020.
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