ELIGIBLE Island businesses have just days remaining to provide details for the council to process payments under two key government grant schemes.

The final date for details to be received via an online form is Wednesday, August 19, with the government having set a deadline of August 28 for last payments to be made.

The two grant schemes are the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Fund.

To date, 4,152 businesses have received £47.35 million in grant funding under the two schemes.

A further 362 Island businesses have received £2.95 million in grants under an additional local discretionary scheme, which closed in June on the Island.

Cabinet member for regeneration and business development, Cllr Wayne Whittle, said: “This government grant funding has proved crucial to thousands of Island businesses during these unprecedented times, and many were able to access the support at a very early stage to help them through the lockdown period.

“With just a week remaining I would urge any eligible businesses that have not yet done so to provide their details via the online form so we can get payment to them before the schemes close.

“I would particularly like to thank our many partner organisations for helping spread the word about these grants over the recent months, and especially our dedicated council teams who have worked tirelessly to process and get payments out to businesses since early April.

“The council has heavily promoted the availability of these grants to ensure all those eligible are made aware, and was among the first in area to have them up and running after the government first announced the schemes.

“We were particularly quick off the mark with our additional local discretionary fund in late May, which has helped many businesses which missed out under the other schemes.

“These schemes all formally close nationally on August 28 and we had hoped the Island would be able to retain the remaining funds, of around £3 million to support those businesses that have missed out, but have been told these must be returned to the government.

“We will continue to press for further government support and funding as our businesses continue the long and challenging journey through these very difficult times.”

Go to iwight.com/covid19_businessadvice