Highland businesses start to receive grants
Businesses across the Highland Council area are starting to receive support from the Covid-19 Business Grant Scheme.
The initiative, which now includes self-catering premises, will bring over £94 million of emergency funding to around 10,000 Highland businesses.
Since the scheme was launched by Scotland's finance secretary Kate Forbes on March 24, Highland Council has set up a dedicated team to manage it and establish a system that can process large daily volumes of grant aid while ensuring the money reaches the right businesses.
With the scheme now operational and 334 business grants processed to date with a total value of £4 million, the council says it is scaling up its efforts and redeploying staff from their current duties to help. Over the coming week the team will increase to more than 40 staff, working towards a target of processing over 350 applications per day with a total grant value of approximately £4m.
Within days of launch, the council had received nearly 3000 applications for grant assistance. "This has created a significant backlog of applications," the local authority said. "The applications are being processed in date order received and hence it is regrettable, but inevitable, that not all the applications will be processed within the 10 working days target.

"The council is working tirelessly to minimise any delays in payments.
"Businesses that have not applied are encouraged to go to the council’s website to determine whether they are eligible for either the Small Business Grant or the Self-Catering Business Grant."