NEARLY £3 million has been allocated to the Isle of Wight Council to give to business who missed out on previous rounds of government funding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Businesses can now apply to the council for grant funding — which could be for £25,000, £10,000 or any sum up to £10,000 — and were not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Fund.

Under the new scheme, business will need to submit financial and other evidence to support their application, as long as they were trading on March 11.

Details of the scheme,which will be reviewed at various stages and further sectors may be added, including which businesses qualify and an application form, can be accessed here.

The Isle of Wight Council said it aims to process applications as swiftly as possible before distributing payments to successful applicants — there will also be an appeals process.

It is thought the £2.96 million allocated for the additional scheme will come from money left over from the initial £62.8 million business grants provided by government to the Island.

The government has said businesses which meet the following criteria should consider whether to apply:

• Small businesses that satisfy two or more of the following requirements in a year - turnover of not more than £10.2 million, balance sheet total of not more than £5.1 million, fewer than 50 employees.

• Micro businesses that satisfy two or more of the following requirements in a year - turnover of not more than £632,000, balance sheet total of not more than £316,000, no more than ten employees.

• Businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs.

• Businesses which can show they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the Covid-19 crisis.

• Businesses which occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000.

The council will prioritise sectors including: small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces; regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent; bed and breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rates; additional charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief.

The government has also given local councils discretion to apply their own criteria in certain areas.

The Isle of Wight Council has considered key local factors, and has added criteria to include:

• businesses based in properties with a zero rateable value, but still with ongoing property costs;

• businesses based on self-catering holiday accommodation which pay council tax instead of business rates;

• businesses which are significant suppliers to the leisure and hospitality business which have suffered significant losses due to Covid-19.

Council leader, Cllr Dave Stewart, said: "I am delighted we have got this extra scheme to help those Island businesses which may have missed out under the initial grants.

"I would urge these businesses to check the new qualifying criteria and send in an application if they are eligible.

"If some businesses continue to miss out, even with the introduction of this scheme, we will seek to bring this to the attention of the government and highlight where we feel the scheme might be extended.

"While there is some local discretion, there may be some exclusions where our hands are still tied by the over-riding government criteria.

"We remain committed to continuing to work to help Island businesses gain access to all available help in these very difficult times.”

A total of 3,752 Island businesses have received £42.8 million of funding under the initial scheme, with payments almost completed but there is still some remaining businesses which qualify for support that have not submitted their details for payment that he council are trying to reach.