The City of Edinburgh Council has been urged to step-up their efforts to distribute grants.
That’s the view of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) after figures reveal that council bosses have given £49.45m of coronavirus grant funding to 3,784 businesses.
However, 1,721 businesses are still waiting for support and Garry Clark, Edinburgh’s Development Manager for the FSB, said: “Firms in Edinburgh are dealing with circumstances way beyond their control.
The quicker we get help to local operators the better the odds that they’ll make it through crisis.”
He added: “There is still a lot of work to do, with a number of businesses having contacted me to tell me that they have been waiting over a month for their grants, despite having been told by the council that they would receive their cash in ten working days.
“These delays are also impacting on Midlothian businesses whose grant applications are being handled in Edinburgh.
“We need to see the council leadership ensure that the team processing the grant applications have all the resources they need to get help to firms quickly. Many local firms are living on borrowed time.”
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