SOME of the £129 million given to BCP Council to help smaller businesses through the coronavirus pandemic may have to be returned unless the government relaxes its criteria, councillors have been told.

Just under £45 million of the government allocation has been paid out so far with more than half of those eligible having received money.

But, speaking during Monday’s meeting of its scrutiny committee, the council’s finance director, Adam Richens, said “in all likelihood” leftover money would have to be returned.

In a bid to avoid this and to expand the number of businesses it can support, the council’s leader, Vikki Slade, has urged the government to give it the freedom to award the remainder.

The council was awarded a £128.8 million share of the £12.3 billion set aside through the Small Business and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grant funds.

As of Monday, 4,430 claims had been lodged, which the council has estimated is about 65 per cent of those that meet the criteria set by the government.

Of those, 3,404 businesses had received a total of £44.9 million in grants.

Mr Richens said it was believed the government had overestimated the number of eligible businesses in the area and remaining money would likely need to be returned.

“The government paid us £128.8 million based on their assessment of eligible businesses,” he said at Monday’s meeting. “That doesn’t tie up with our assessment and, in all likelihood, the excess they paid us will have to be returned in due course so it wouldn’t be available to us to use for further grants.”

Under the terms of the two funds, the council can only issue certain amounts of money to businesses which meet its criteria and any remainder is expected to have to be given back.

But Cllr Slade has now said the council has been “encouraging” the government to allow it to distribute leftover funding to other businesses in need of support.

“We are only able to make grant payments to eligible businesses and we are encouraging the government to look at ways that they can support any businesses who do not qualify including the use of any unspent grant resources should the situation arise,” she said.

She has also urged businesses who are eligible under the current criteria, including those who may not be on its records, to apply through the council “as soon as possible”.

The council has set a target of issuing payments within seven working days of receiving an application but Cllr Slade said in some cases that this may be extended should further information be required.

Letters have been sent to the registered business address of any company that is eligible for a grant, according to the council’s records.