Eden Council failed to use £2,408,430.84 in grant funding it has returned to government departments.

Eden Council failed to use £2,408,430.84 in grant funding it has returned to government departments.

Penrith.Town has discovered that in December Eden District Council handed back a total of £2,408,430.84 in grant funding the council has not used to support business and communities in Eden in 2022.

The returned funding includes £1,564,190.00 of Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant funding intended to have supported business across Eden in the Hospitality and Leisure sector in the recovery from the pandemic and lockdowns on the industry.

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant was intended to the support hospitality, leisure and accommodation business premises with one-off grants of up to £6,000 with Eden having received the funding from Government to administer and distribute to business across Eden since January 2022.

Eden Council have in addition handed back £223,064.00 to government grant funding intended for Eden Council to award as Additional Local Restrictions Grant’s to local business in Eden.
The Governments criteria provided for “All businesses that are trading and meet other eligibility criteria may apply to receive funding under this scheme. There is no starting date from which businesses must have been trading in order to qualify for grant funding.”

In January 2022 Eden Council said “Eden District Council has been awarded £154,315 funding in this third top up to support businesses impacted by the ongoing pandemic. It is expected that this money will be spent on direct business grants. This policy sets out the criteria and process for the provision of ARGs to businesses. Eden District Council recognises the importance of issuing grants quickly to businesses who are impacted by restrictions but not eligible for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant.”

The handing back of £223,064 by Eden Council to government having received £154,315 in the third and final Additional Restrictions Grant funding by government suggests that Eden Council had not awarded all the round 2 Additional Restrictions Grant funding in Eden in addition to the round three funding intended to support business recover from the impacts of the pandemic in the Eden District in 2022.

Eden Council also returned in December grant funding awarded to Eden totalling £442,267.39.

£442,267.39 of this money was returned to Liverpool Combined Authorities by Eden Councils Community Service Assistant Director’s department.
And a further £178909.45 repaid to the government department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BESI) by Eden Councils Community Service Assistant Director’s department.

It remains unclear what these two grant funding amounts had been allocated for and not used by Eden Council resulting in the funding returned and not used in communities across Eden.

Eden Council also paid out in December £157,342.37 to cover agency and consultants used to deliver roles the council have not recruited employed staff to fill for delivery of council services.

Including the councils Chief Executive who received in December £25,960.00 for the month of November.

Penrith.Town have asked Eden Council for a comment on the handing back of £2,408,430.84 in grant funding the council has failed to distribute to support Business and Communities in Eden in the last year.
At the time of publishing this article Eden Council have given no response to our questions however have since provided the following statement.

A spokesperson for Eden District Council said, "This money was non-discretionary COVID business grant funding intended for specific organisations, meeting certain Government stipulated criteria. The funding was allocated to local authorities by central Government, based on its estimation of need. None of these funds were transferrable to the discretionary COVID grant schemes that were also made available at that time.

"Over 14,500 successful grant applications were processed by Eden District Council with COVID support grants totalling an extraordinary £56,395,996.70 being paid to businesses and organisations in Eden. This was an unprecedented collaborative effort to deliver much needed support to business and organisations in Eden during the global COVID pandemic.

"The Government and Eden District Council went to extraordinary lengths to promote the availability of these grants and worked incredibly hard to ensure applications were processed and payments made as quickly as practically possible.

"Eden District Council is satisfied that all eligible businesses and organisations that submitted applications for COVID support funding, received the money they were entitled to. As it was not possible for the balance of funding to be used for any other purpose, it is now being returned to the Government, as per the conditions of its allocation to the Council."

What do you think about Eden Council handing back the £2,408,430.84?