A Kent MP has clashed with a council leader over claims Covid relief grants are not being paid to struggling businesses quickly enough.

Labour's Rosie Duffield has accused the local authority in Canterbury of dragging its heels in getting the money to those who need it, claiming she has been "inundated" with emails from hard-up traders.

She says the council has been “lagging behind” while others have been rolling out the Business Grant Support Scheme “quickly and efficiently”.

But council leader Ben Fitter-Harding (Con) has accused the MP of trying to "play some kind of politics".

He was sent a letter by Ms Duffield - who represents Canterbury and Whistable - and the city's Labour group leader Alan Baldock.

In it, they write: "Canterbury City Council's lack of clear communication has left many businesses faced with financial uncertainty.

"Despite having rent and business overheads to pay they have no guarantee of when they can expect support payments for the time they have had to close, which is putting them under enormous strain, with many forced to take out bank loans to sustain their businesses going forward.

"It has been consistently reported that business owners are receiving the same message: that the council does not have 'full details on these grants or how they will be paid yet'.

"However, other councils have been rolling out business grant support quickly and efficiently, while Canterbury City Council lags behind.

"Whilst we understand the huge effort undertaken by the council, effective communication is key to reducing the anxiety of people desperately seeking security at this difficult time."

Ms Duffield and Mr Baldock have now asked the council to provide a dedicated phone line for businesses, a full update on how the local authority is progressing with the scheme and an improvement of the scrunity process.

Cllr Fitter-Harding says he has received positive emails from business owners.

Responding to the letter, he said: "I was quite surprised and angry because Rosie and Alan say their inboxes have been inundated with businesses who are distressed.

"If they have, none of those emails have been getting to me and that means [the business owners] have been waiting for Labour to play some kind of politics about the fact they are in a difficult situation.

"I have been working very closely with [North Thanet MP] Roger Gale and when he gets contacted by business owners, we get it resolved.

"I think it’s a shame that rather than attempting to work with me through any problems the district is facing, they have taken a really politicised approach instead."

The authority has today announced a major £5 million pay run will be happening on Monday, with a "major proportion" of businesses expected to see payments in their accounts by the middle of next week.

Bev Newton, 59, who runs Memories and Moonbeams, says she had been left “feeling really down” not knowing when she would receive payments.

“It has been very frustrating because there has been no communication from the council; we’ve had to chase it,” she said.

“Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why we are locked down and I have lost a friend to Covid, but this is my business.”

However, she added she contacted Cllr Fitter-Harding, who was “very helpful and supportive” and helped her find out when she would receive the cash.

More than £3 million has been paid out since November and extra staff resources are in place so they can get the government's cash into businesses' accounts "as swiftly as possible".

'It has been very frustrating because there has been no communication from the council...'

City council spokesman Rob Davies says the majority of payments have been made for the second lockdown up to December 1, but queries are still outstanding on some payments and are being prioritised.

More than 60% of grants for the restrictions from December 2 to January 4 have also been paid.

The process is already in place for paying outstanding grants and the recently announced one-off top-up grants for the current lockdown up until February 15.

A "very large pay run" of more than £5 million will go out on Monday to cover these payments for a "major proportion of businesses" whose applications have been approved.

Business owners are expected to see the cash in their accounts by Wednesday or Thursday next week, according to the council's spokesman.

"This is obviously good news and will provide many of our businesses with the support they need as we hopefully head towards the easing of restrictions in the spring," Mr Davies said.

"Some businesses have been asked to provide more information about their application, and we are urging them to do so as quickly as possible, as we cannot take them forward if any details are missing.

"Eligibility and anti-fraud checks are in place, and rightly so given this is public money."

He added that "all councils are wrestling with the complexities involved" and producing the grants is not straightforward.

For more information about grants in the Canterbury district, click here.

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