Around 1,500 Liverpool city region businesses who received grants in the first two rounds of COVID-19 support are to be given extra funding. Tony McDonough reports

A £10m fund will offer top-up grants for 1,500 business in Liverpool city region who were supported in the first two rounds of COVID grant lifelines.

Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, and the leaders of the six local authorities, have agreed to release more funding to support businesses that have been “battered” by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on the size of the business, the top-up grants will be worth between £2,250 and £10,500.

In response to the Government putting the Liverpool city region into Tier 3 in October, the Combined Authority and local councils launched a £40m fund to support businesses operating in the leisure and hospitality sectors.

This included a £9.5m fund, the first of its kind in the country, to support small and micro businesses working in leisure, hospitality and retail. It also included funding for the self-employed, sole traders, home-based workers and their supply chains, many of whom have been excluded from Government support since the pandemic started.

In a joint statement, Mr Rotheram and the leaders said: “Local businesses have taken a battering over the past year, but we’ve been doing everything we can to help support and sustain them throughout the pandemic.

“We’ve already given out tens of millions of pounds to help keep 1,500 local businesses afloat and, with the current lockdown, we know things are still tough for many. Today we’re making another £10m available to help safeguard people’s jobs and livelihoods through the next few months.

“We will also be announcing details of a further fund next week to help some of those who have not yet qualified for support. While the vaccine rollout continues apace, a return to something resembling normality is in sight. We just need to stick together and make it through the coming weeks and months.”

The additional payments will be made to businesses that received Hospitality and Leisure Grants (First Round: October 2020), and Expanded Hospitality, Leisure and Retail Grants (Second Round: November 2020).

Businesses that meet these criteria will be contacted directly by their local council and will have to complete a simple form confirming their previous application details are still correct.