Covid-19: NI businesses to receive £70m in new payments

More than £70m in grant payments will be made to businesses which stayed open during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Department of Finance.

It is hoped it will help some 13,000 businesses which did not qualify for support during the most recent lockdown as they were not forced to close.

The "stay at home" message had a huge effect on their footfall.

From Thursday they will get a top-up payment of either £5,000 or £10,000, based on previous funding.

It will depend on whether they received either the £10,000 small business support grant or the £25,000 retail, tourism and leisure grant in the first lockdown.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: "These top-up payments will benefit thousands of small and medium-sized businesses across retail, hospitality, tourism, leisure and manufacturing which were unable to access executive business support schemes.

"This grant will cover a wider range of business, including convenience stores, hardware stores, bakeries, financial services, engineering firms and coach services to name a few."

Belfast deli owner Kieran Sloan said he would put the top-up payment towards a new van.

He told BBC News NI: "Me and my two sons were in, we were trying to survive, making hampers and delivering boxes as there wasn't one person in the town.

"We had to adapt to change and it seemed to work but for months there there was no footfall.

"It was long days sometimes. It was great to hear the phone ringing - someone ordering stuff to be delivered out.

"I'm an old-fashioned grocer - I love to chat to people, bring them into the shop and show them around and that's what I want to see, people coming back into the shops."

Businesses do not have to apply for these top-up payments.

If they received either the £10,000 or £25,000 grants last year, the new payments will be automatically issued.

Land and Property Services is undertaking verification work to ensure the occupiers of business properties have remained the same since the original grants were paid.

Any businesses which started trading more recently can apply online for the top-up payment from late June.