BUSINESSES are being urged to be patient with regards to Covid-19 grants.

To date, West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) has paid £1,059,264 to 642 businesses from the mandatory and discretionary schemes for the lockdown ending on December 2.

Meanwhile, a further £38,340 has gone to 45 pubs which remained closed or which could serve drinks only over the Christmas period.

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The council finance team is now reviewing fresh Government guidance for the new lockdown with a one-off top up grant for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the spring, depending on rateable value.

Toby Morris, WODC’s cabinet member for resources, said: “We appreciate business concerns and our team is working incredibly hard to process applications as quickly as possible.

“An already highly complex situation has been made more so by the new lockdown.”