Sheffield church halls may have missed out on grants of up to £10,000 each

Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said a church in Ecclesall - the ward he represents - raised the issue when they saw other councils had opened a Covid-19 support scheme to community organisations.

Northumberland County Council announced it would accept applications from organisations which provide access to facilities for communities and community groups, like church halls, which lost income due to Covid-19 for the discretionary grant fund scheme.

Coun Mohammed said Sheffield had not done this.

He said: “The church looked at what support they could have and tried to get some help from the council and it’s not worked out. Then they looked over the borders and it turns out that elsewhere in the country councils have been able to adjust the criteria and church halls have been able to get some support.

“There will be lots of other church halls that have probably tried and not got anywhere too.

“It’s a bit disappointing that Sheffield has not been as proactive as say Northumberland.”

It comes after it was revealed more than £17 million from the small business grants fund scheme and the retail hospitality and leisure business grants fund still had not been given out to Sheffield businesses in need and could be taken back by the government after the deadline of August 28.

A council spokesperson said: “We are working closely with businesses across the city to provide assistance and support where we can. We look at each case on an individual basis considering eligibility for both the national and local schemes. We are unable to allocate support outside of the government’s criteria for the national scheme and our discretionary scheme, which is small, has had to prioritise those trading activities most impacted by the pandemic. In many cases this means that church halls and community facilities do not qualify.

“We know this is a very difficult time and this is disappointing for some organisations. We are doing everything we can to help people access funding and will continue to provide support wherever possible.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to The Star website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit https://www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor