A devastated Glasgow business owner is concerned his livelihood could be in tatters after his application for a cornonavirus grant was snared in council red tape.
The dad-of-one, who wishes to remain anonymous, opened his wine shop in the west end in November last year.
But Glasgow City Council refused to pay him the small business grant as the previous owner’s name remains on the council’s non-domestic rates.
A property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, does not have to pay business rates - so many small business owners don't rush to update themselves on the Non Domestic Rates Register.
The 40-year-old said after three weeks of filing paperwork, including a copy of the lease, a letter from the landlord and invoices for rent, he is sick of being forced to jump through hoops to access a financial lifeline that could help his business stay afloat during lockdown.
He told Glasgow Live : “The people that deal with the rates register now are off due to Covid so we can’t get it updated - so my application has been rejected on a technicality.
“Personally I know at least four or five businesses that have been affected by this and are in the same position. We have no access to the grants, there must be hundreds of us out there and it is so frustrating."
“Other authorities have paid out without asking for as much as Glasgow City Council - and a lot quicker or even automatically.”
He added: “I would have thought the council would be keen to help small businesses. I know they are a bit overstretched, but making decisions based on the database that is out of date.
“I’ve sent everything to prove that I am the tenant but they still won’t take it into account.
“It’s frustrating because I applied on the 31st of March and I am still not any further forward.”
The Coronavirus Business Support Fund (CBSF) was introduced to help firms survive until other support packages became available.
More than 12,000 Glasgow businesses have already applied for the grants directly to Glasgow City Council – which is managing the scheme – but a number of businesses have so far received nothing.
The authority said more than £19million had already been paid out via the scheme.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: "Following a guidance update by the Scottish Government today, we are currently reviewing applications from businesses that were eligible for Small Business Bonus relief, but were not registered on the NDR list.
"We will review the application in line with this update and be in touch.”
