Llanfair business closes down after Covid grants reclaimed

Marc Meredith, who has run a small machinery repair business for almost a decade, felt he had no choice but to wind the company up, vacate his business premises and return to full-time employment, after Powys County Council told him the £10,000 he’d received in business relief grants since the start of the year had been provided in error, and asked for the money back.

Marc, who lives in Llanfair Caereinion, received his first grant of £3,000 from the local authority in January. A repeat payment was made to him in February, with a further £4,000 given to him at the end of March.

But he also received a letter from PCC informing him his business “does not fall into the correct sector” and the grants were provided to him in error.

But the £4,000 payment was even made after that letter had been issued.

The 46-year-old said he’d already used the grants to keep himself afloat during the pandemic.

“I desperately needed the grants to keep my business afloat. I’ve since given notice on my unit and wound the business up and taken a full-time job,” said Marc, who ran his company from an industrial estate in Llanerfyl.

“I had support from the business rates relief grant scheme during lockdown. I was invited to apply. I got the money and then a little over a month later I received bill for £10,000 from Powys, telling me I’d received the grants in error. The problem is I’ve utilised the money, and now I can’t sustain my business.

“It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. No-one’s going to have any money left.

“My suspicion is that there might well be other people and businesses in the same position. I’m not on my own, I know that, but the council won’t answer the question.”

Marc is doubly concerned as the money Powys are claiming back was provided by a central government fund, so he is curious as to where the money he has to return will end up.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething

Moreover, the money has been used to pay rent on business properties which are in fact owned by the council itself.

“They’ve drawn quite a hard line under the matter, saying they paid it in error,” he added.

“But it’s not their money, it’s come from a central fund, so what happens to it now? Perversely, they’ve been getting money back because I’ve been paying it for rent on their building.

“It’s their error. I abided by their rules. The message during lockdown was to stay at home. My trade dropped off massively, especially during the Christmas period, but small business followed the rules because it’s what we had to do.

“There was an awful lot of conflicting information, plus it was a minefield of an application.”

After going self-employed nine years ago, Marc has at least been able to secure work with his former employers, but feels he has been set back a decade.

He said: “The job I’ve taken is doing machinery repairs with my old company. I went self-employed nine years ago, and now I’m back where I was nine years ago.

“I’ve always led my life petrified of debt. The money given to me was taken in good faith. It’s definitely been affecting my mental health.”

The council said it would not comment on individual cases, but did admit it had discovered several instances of businesses being ineligible, leading to grants being reclaimed.

Cllr Aled Davies

Councillor Aled Davies, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said: “During the pandemic, the council has supported over 10,000 Powys businesses with more than £84 million of Welsh Government support.

“It was important to get this critical support out to eligible businesses as quickly as possible. Pre-payment checks were undertaken, but as we indicated in the award letters, we are also conducting post payment assurance checks to ensure that public funds have been issued appropriately.

“We have identified some cases where a business was not actually eligible for the grant and the payments have been reclaimed.”