THE SCOTTISH Government’s partial u-turn on Covid-19 business support still falls short of help offered in the rest of the UK, opposition parties have warned.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has now agreed that emergency funding will be distributed by property rather than by business, similar to the model used by the UK Government south of the border.
The announcement means that small businesses in Scotland will receive a 100% grant on their first property, but small business rate payers will only be eligible for a 75% grant on all subsequent properties.
Ms Forbes said: “We are doing everything we can to support business at this difficult time and we continue to listen to and engage with the sector.
READ MORE: Scottish ministers unveil virus grants U-turn
“Our support for business now exceeds the £2.2 billion passed on from the UK Government and actively works to fill the gaps in the UK schemes.
“Around 100,000 businesses in total are already eligible for our small business grants and from today we will be extending that scheme in response to feedback from businesses on the frontline of this economic crisis.”
She added: “With UK Government support not being available until June, we are going further to secure the future economic viability of Scottish firms and applications will be open by the end of the month.
“While many businesses are in difficulty, some are doing better than others or can pull through from their own resources.
“Just as we ask the public only to buy what they need in the supermarkets, we are asking businesses who do not need this vital help to refrain from claiming additional support unless absolutely necessary so we can direct as much help as possible to those who need it most.”
The Scottish Conservatives have welcomed the change of heart by the Scottish Government, but warned that the £25,000 grant will be handed over to small businesses’ first property and only 75% of the grant available for subsequent premises.
In England and Wales, all properties are eligible for 100% of the £25,000 grant.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said: “The SNP government has spent weeks defending its approach in the face of severe criticism from Scotland’s business community.
“Now, after pressure from the Scottish Conservatives, it has finally accepted its failings.
“These changes should have been made sooner, and that would have spared a significant amount of anxiety across Scotland’s small business community, among owners and their employees.”
He added: “We’ve always argued that if the SNP takes a divergent approach from the rest of the UK, it has to show why this is of benefit for Scotland.
“Nicola Sturgeon wasn’t able to do so in this case, and I’m glad she’s finally realised her mistakes in this critical issue.”
Last week, Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard wrote to Ms Forbes to call for the Scottish Government to extend the small business grants scheme so that businesses with more than one property were not disadvantaged and were eligible for appropriate financial support.
READ MORE: Scottish companies shed more jobs than anywhere else in UK
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “Today’s announcement will come as some relief to many businesses in Scotland that faced the real prospect of financial ruin due to the Scottish Government’s previous insistence in offering grants for only one premises.
“We are glad that Kate Forbes has listened to Scottish Labour’s call and the concerns of Scotland’s business community, however, it is clear that the financial support on offer to businesses of more than one property in Scotland is still below the level of support on offer elsewhere in the UK.
“Scottish Labour will continue to scrutinise closely the Scottish Government’s economic strategy.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel