Barnsley Council delivered grants to businesses from the Government scheme days after the April 2020 business support package was announced. Barnsley Council has to date paid out over £19M to over 1762 businesses in Barnsley in business grants, ahead of receiving money from central government, which arrived on Thursday 2 April.

Enterprising Barnsley, the business support arm of the council, is providing a central source of information on their website for national and local business support in response to COVID-19.

Working with the council’s finance team, a process was quickly established to drive grant enquiries to an online form, resulting in faster pay outs to support Barnsley’s economy and business owners in need of support. 

Setting up a new online chat system on the Enterprising Barnsley website allowed the team to deliver a contact centre style function to manage enquiries and provide clear information to over 540 businesses in the first two weeks of the crisis.

Further support is being provided by Barnsley Council’s Employment & Skills team, who have set up a helpdesk, working closely with Enterprising Barnsley to provide a one stop shop of support for businesses and workers.