Thousands of calls and requests have come into Dudley Council in just two weeks from businesses applying for grants.

The council is working round the clock to get the money to businesses as quickly as possible but it is taking time.

Extra staff have also been drafted in to provide dedicated support.

Smaller businesses, with rateable values of up to £15,000, will be able to apply for grants of £10,000 while certain medium to larger firms in the retail, hospitality and leisure industries, with rateable values of less than £51,000, will have access to grants of £25,000.

Councillor Steve Clark, cabinet member for finance, said:

There has been a huge demand on the service and we are doing everything we can to get money to the right businesses as quickly as possible.

It may take a while due to the sheer volume of requests but I assure people, we are making every effort to speed up that process to make sure we help businesses as quickly as we can.

Businesses are suffering but we will keep pushing ahead to make sure they get this vital financial help.”

Dudley Council will also soon be applying a full year of 100 per cent business rate relief for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses and nurseries. It has also ordered an immediate stop to bailiffs and court actions for payment defaults, while the initial direct debit payments of business rates were frozen immediately and will be rescheduled for those businesses that are still required to pay.

For all of the latest news and information on the coronavirus visit https://www.dudley.gov.uk/coronavirus and sign up to our regular free email bulletins here.