Whitehall calls for unspent business grant funds return

摘要

Councils are being ordered to return millions of pounds in business grants to Whitehall even with firms shuttered in the middle of a national lockdown. A number of local authority finance directors have been told to return money they were not able to spend from the Small Business Grant Fund, Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund, which ran between March and September. The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for councils to be allowed to give the £1.6bn unspent from small firms grant funds directly to businesses. Government officials have refused to confirm how much money they have asked councils to return but a spokesperson said: 'We have always been clear that unspent funds by local authorities would need to be returned - taxpayers would expect nothing less.'