Finance bosses are urging businesses to come forward to see if they are eligible for the cash to help them deal with the impact of coronavirus.

In this second round, the council has already paid more than 1,800 grants providing nearly £2.4 million of help.

The new grants are aimed at businesses which have been forced to close by national restrictions, including non-essential retail, leisure, personal care, sports facilities and hospitality sectors.

The rules on who is eligible for the grants have been set nationally and are based around the rateable value of the property.

Those businesses with a rateable value under £15,000 will able to apply for more than £6,000 in grants across three schemes - Local Restrictions Support Grant, the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment and the Tier 4 restrictions period December 31, 2020 – January 4, 2021.

Businesses with a rateable value of £15,001 to £50,999 could be eligible for more than £9,000 across the three while those with a rateable value of more than £51,000 can apply for up to £14,000.

Councillor Steve Clark, cabinet member for finance, said:

"This is the latest financial support we are offering to businesses after already helping more than 1000 businesses with £2million worth of support.

"This latest lockdown will have had a huge impact on local businesses but we are doing all we can to help."