THURROCK Council has distributed almost £20 million in government-funded business grants in the since the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

The grant scheme was set up by the government to help support businesses impacted by social distancing restrictions which have forced many to close.

To date the council has distributed £18.7million of these grants to 1,457 businesses in the borough.

Finance portfolio holder Cllr Shane Hebb said the scheme is helping to offer a "vital lifeline" to businesses during an "extremely uncertain time".

"We are doing everything we can to help businesses during this difficult time and making sure that there are no obstacles which will hold them up from receiving their grants," he said.

"We have pulled out all the stops to make sure that we get this money to them as quickly and efficiently as possible."

The government announced in the past week it would also begin offering 12-month interest free 'Bounce Back' loans of up to £50,000.

Businesses were allowed to begin applying for the loans from Monday and within 24 hours the scheme had received more than 69,000 requests from companies across the country.

Further support is also being offered to smaller businesses that were not able to apply for the first round of grants.

The new scheme will come from a pot of £617 million in government money and Thurrock Council will have the power to distribute grants of up to £25,000 to small firms, small charities and those working in shared office space. The businesses must also be small, under 50 employees, and be able to demonstrate a significant drop of income as a result of the lockdown.

It comes after critics of the earlier scheme highlighted that strict eligibility requirements meant more than half of the country's smaller businesses were missing out.

You an find out more about how Thurrock COuncil is distributing money here