The Conservative Group on Cornwall Council has called upon the Liberal Democrat/Independent administration that runs the council to urgently correct inaccurate information on its discretionary grants for businesses scheme.
Cornwall Council’s guidance, which was initially published and promoted on 22 May, currently states that businesses cannot claim for the payment if they have previously accessed support from the Government’s self employment income support scheme, despite government guidance directly contradicting this.
Commenting, Conservative Group Leader Cllr Linda Taylor said:
“The Conservative Group has been closely scrutinising this scheme since it went live on Friday and could not believe that this glaring error has been allowed to remain on Cornwall Council’s website.”
“We first contacted the Leader of Cornwall Council about this on Saturday morning and have done so again today (Sunday).”
“Despite, since our first contact, the application form itself now being changed to reflect that people who have already claimed (SEIS) can claim the discretionary payment, both the page on Cornwall Council’s website that people have to go through before clicking on the application form, and the guidance the council says it is using, remain incorrect.”
“This could mean that many businesses who are desperately in need of support are put off from claiming because of this inaccurate advice.”
“We call upon the administration to do the right thing and amend their website and guidance to reflect the correct position.”
