More than £12m has been paid out by an East Midlands council in government-funded grants to in excess of 1,000 businesses to support them during the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Rutland County Council has handed £12.2m to a total of 1,085 companies through one of three schemes administered by the authority: the Small Business Grant, the Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant or the Local Authority Discretionary Grants. 

Following notification from government, these grant schemes closed on 28 August.

However, other forms of Covid-19 business support, such as the national Small Business Leadership Programme, remain ongoing.