2 weeks Ago By Andy Balfour and Local Democracy Reporter
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. At this month’s Leisure and Development Committee meeting, members were asked to approve several changes to the policy, which set out a framework for the processing of grants by the council and has previously been reviewed annually but will now be reviewed every two years. The changes include a condition within offer letters that applicants make claims within a specified timeframe, and giving council the ability to remove or reduce a grant and enact their debt recovery process if this condition is not met.
Advertisement Advertisement An officer clarified that the changes were added in response to a Go Succeed programme for small businesses, which started last year and is administered for the whole of Northern Ireland through Belfast City Council . The officer added: “In the first year of its operation they recommended, almost insisted, that all councils pay out 100% of grant aid in advance [and] in the last week we have had to implement six debt recovery processes, because they haven’t adhered to the conditions in the letter of offer and they haven’t provided the requisite documentation they’re meant to provide. “We’ve never had to do this before because usually it’s community and voluntary organisations that we’re dealing with and we do have specific processes to deal with them not adhering, such as [the ability to] withhold grants the following year.
“There’s no such provision apart from the letters of offer, which does specify that grants will be clawed back. Advertisement Advertisement “However when it’s small businesses, if they’ve spent the money on something else and cash flow is an issue, it can be quite challenging for them to pay the money back. “Letters have gone out to try and recover some upfront payments that weren’t used for the purposes they were for, and some have already come back [with] their reasons and we’re now working with them.
“However there are others who are totally ignoring our letters and telephone calls, and the only recourse is through the debt recovery process." National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting.
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