Barnsley Council rapped by Ombudsman after refusing business’ Covid support grant

The unknown claimant, a woman known as Miss X, had her application rejected for the council’s Covid business grant scheme, which offered small and medium businesses affected by the pandemic payments of £1,000 to £3,000.

Barnsley Council opened the grant scheme on November 25, 2020, and closed it on December 2.

The claimant, known as Miss X, applied for a grant on December 2, and was told by the council that her application had been refused on December 17.

Miss X then complained to BMBC on December 22 that she has a disability and found the process discriminatory given the short time frame to make a claim.

Miss X claimed she was not offered any reasonable adjustments, and that other applicants were given support.

In its response, council bosses said there was an “unavoidable delay” in setting up the grant scheme, and the government had given the council tight timescales.

The Council stated that it gave applicants “as much time as possible”, but failure to meet the government’s deadline would have resulted in it not being able to recoup the £1.1m funds.

The Council also “apologised for the distress” Miss X had experienced.

Miss X complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found fault in the way that BMBC was “unable to provide any evidence it had due regard to its equality duty in setting this timeframe.”

The investigation found “nothing to suggest the Council made favourable decisions for other applicants with the same circumstances as Miss X”, and found “no undue delay in the Council’s handling of Miss X’s complaint.”

The Ombudsman recommended that BMBC apologise to Miss X, provide her a payment for distress, and evidence it will carry out Equality Impact Assessments in future.

Councillor Tim Cheetham, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture, said: “The council administered this scheme across the City Region and during this time, staff worked extensively and tirelessly to deliver much-needed support to businesses across the borough.

“The compensation and letter have been issued in direct response to the Ombudsman’s findings, and learnings have been implemented within this service.”