Business grants paid out and more help available with Council Tax payment plans
Staff in Moray Council’s revenues and benefits section, which manages the collection of Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) and payments of benefits, has recently paid out £6,695,000 of grants to Moray businesses, including those in tourism, hospitality and leisure.
Just under 1,000 applications were received, of which over half have so far been approved and paid. Nearly 400 require further investigation and review, but so far none have been rejected.
Some applicants have not yet received notification whether their application has been successful or not, but council staff are working hard to get grants processed and paid as quickly as possible. More staff have been drafted in to process applications, many of which are more complex or require more communication with the applicant.
The team are working as efficiently and quickly as possible to get through these cases and if applicants have not heard back since their application was submitted , council staff will be in touch shortly.
Having cleared most of the initial tranche of grant applications, council tax collection has to take place as is the case for NDR bills when the current pause is lifted.
But Moray Council Leader, Cllr Graham Leadbitter, said people need not panic in this lockdown period and urged anyone struggling to meet their payments to contact the service.
“We all understand these are uniquely challenging times for everyone, in business or not, and our staff stand by ready to help,” he said.
“While many small businesses in Moray enjoy 100% rates relief there is no such relief from the payment of Council Tax. However, we understand the difficulties some may have in meeting payments during the lockdown and the team are authorised to agree a re-scheduling of the tax and business rates bills to minimise any hardship.
“I would encourage anyone expecting to have a problem in meeting any payments to get in touch – by email in the first instance. There is someone there to help, but in any event please be patient .
“In terms of the outstanding business grants, the council hopes that this update along with news that more staff has been dedicated to the grant scheme will re-assure those who have not yet been contacted.”
Contact advisors on revenues@moray.gov.uk , and more information is on the council’s website at