Dorset Council has switched staff from other departments to help meet the demand for business grant payments.

The authority says it has paid around two thirds of the 7,240 business support grant claims made so far, totalling £57 million.

“If you have registered to claim your grant but are yet to receive it, please be assured we’re working as hard as we can to process all claims and we’ve drafted in officers from other parts of the council to help speed up the process,” said a spokesman.

The council has also dealt with £50m of extra support through the Expanded Retail Discount scheme and has already applied this to eligible businesses, adjusting their bills. Automatic discounts are now also being applied to what the council describes as “a small number” of eligible nursery schools identified as providers of Ofsted Early Years education.

Among the support offered for businesses are two new funds, financed by the Government, but administered by Dorset Council.

These are the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF).

The Small Business Grant Fund is to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of Small Business Rate Relief (SBBR), Rural Rate Relief (RRR) and tapered relief. This can provide a one off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund is for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with cash grants payable, potentially, for each property. To qualify businesses in these sectors should have a rateable value of up to and including £15,000 and could receive a grant of £10,000. Those with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £51,000 are eligible for a grant of £25,000.

Other help being offered to the local business community includes the council ensuring that it pays all its suppliers promptly.

Between March 18th and April 16th council staff immediately paid almost 22,500 invoices, paying £7.4million to its suppliers.

“We hope our suppliers have similar considerations to their own suppliers to help them cope with these challenging conditions.

“Working together, to flow cash through the supply chain will help us all to resume normal service,” said a spokesman.