TEN million pounds has now been given out to businesses across Oxford to help them deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The city council has paid out £10m in government grants to 560 businesses in Oxford to support them through the lockdown.

The council was one of the first local authorities in the country to start issuing the funding.

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Systems were put in place to manage the grants at the end of March, and the city council received £25.2m of government funding to pay the grants at the start of the month.

As of 4pm on Monday, £10,130,000 of funding has been provided to the city’s businesses.

This included:

  • 207 small business grants totalling £2,070,000
  • 51 lower retail, leisure and hospitality grants totalling £510,000
  • 302 higher retail, leisure and hospitality grants totalling £7,550,000

It is estimated that all the funding the council is in charge of will be allocated by the end of April.

So far, 1,088 of approximately 1,831 eligible businesses in Oxford - or 59 per cent - have applied for the scheme.

However, the city council does not have contact details for all the eligible businesses, so business owners need to use the online form to apply for the financial support.

Susan Brown, leader of Oxford City Council, said: “Businesses are the lifeblood of Oxford and its economy, and we are doing everything we can to ensure they survive through the coronavirus outbreak.

“We built our grant application systems early and have been issuing funding to Oxford’s businesses for almost three weeks.

“We have already written to all small businesses in Oxford to encourage them to apply but we do not have contact details for all eligible businesses, so it is vital that they contact us."

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A similar call urging businesses who had not applied for relief was issued earlier this week by the leaders of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils.

In the two council areas 65 per cent of businesses had applied for funding, with most of them eligible for financial aid.

But the remaining 35 per cent had not been in touch with their council to make the application.

Other district councils across Oxfordshire are responsible for dishing out the grants to companies in their areas.

In addition to the grant funding, Oxford City Council has also applied millions of pounds of business rates relief to firms across the city, with £57.3m of relief applied to 1,527 businesses.

For more information about the support available in Oxford and to apply, visit oxford.gov.uk/supportforbusiness