The Star helps Sheffield window company receive £25,000 Covid survival grant

A Sheffield window company has received a £25,000 grant to survive the pandemic after its delay-hit case was championed by The Star.
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Billy Hawes, joint managing director at Global Windows in Handsworth, applied for a Covid-19 business support grant on March 30 – but six weeks later he approached the newspaper in frustration.

We asked the authority to look at the case again and the money hit the firm’s account today.

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Mr Hawes said it would help save the 14-strong business which also supports 30 self-employed fitters.

Billy Hawes and business partner Liam Hulme of Global Windows.Billy Hawes and business partner Liam Hulme of Global Windows.
Billy Hawes and business partner Liam Hulme of Global Windows.

Combined with the relaxation of lockdown, which meant two teams were operating again, money was coming in and keeping the company afloat.

He said: “I’m quite happy now thanks a lot. I had been contacting the council since March 30. Its taken two months but now we have got a bit of income.

“I’d say to any business don’t give up. If you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere make your voice heard.”

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Mr Hawes believes the delay was due to the premises being wrongly classed as a factory - which are excluded from grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.

The company stopped manufacturing completely last year, he said, and 12 Orgreave Drive is used as a large showroom and storage depot only.

After applying on March 30, he did not receive a word in response for seven days, he said. He was told he would hear something in coming days. But after chasing every other day for 10 days he still did not receive feedback. Several unsatisfactory calls then took place before he emailed the city council to complain - and copied The Star in.

It stated: ‘We fully appreciate the testing times for all concerned in the current climate and the volume of work this has created, but the lack of communication and constant chasing from myself to no avail is not acceptable.’

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Cabinet member for business, Coun Mazher Iqbal, responded saying he would look into the concerns. And The Star submitted a request urging the authority to investigate - and chased it up daily.

Mr Hawes said: “The grant has hit our account this morning so thanks for emailing.”

A council spokeswoman said: “I can’t provide a statement on individual situations.”

In the last six weeks the authority has paid out grants to more than 6,700 businesses, totalling £80m, she added.

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But there were still at least 1,000 eligible businesses who had not yet applied.

Grants are available to any firms in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief, who will receive a one-off grant of £10,000.

Support grants are also available to rate paying businesses within the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors.

Businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or less are eligible for £10,000 while businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000, will receive £25,000.

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Coun Mazher Iqbal said: “We know that these support grants have been a lifeline for many businesses during this pandemic, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve now paid 93 per cent of eligible applications we’ve received.

“However we know there are still at least 1,000 businesses out there who could benefit from this help.

“We’re working hard to contact these businesses this week, but I’d also like to encourage people to be proactive in applying.

“There is specific government criteria about who qualifies for the grant, but these are one-off payments that businesses don’t need to pay back, so it’s really worth finding out if you are eligible.

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“If you are eligible, you can easily submit an application via the council website – you’ll just need to have your business rate account number to hand.

“We don’t want anyone to struggle during this time and we’re working hard to provide advice to businesses and to process applications as quickly as possible.”A message from the Editor:

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