BRADFORD Council was told to apologise to a local business over the inadequate advice it provided about Covid grants.

A Local Government Ombudsman found that the Council gave "misleading" advice to the business after it applied for a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant.

However, the Ombudsman said the Council was not at fault in its decision not to award the grant.

A recently published report from the Ombudsman followed a complaint from a business owner, only referred to as Mr D, who had applied to the Council for a grant.

The report said that to be eligible for the Government grants, which were delivered locally by Bradford Council, businesses needed to be registered for business rates on March 11 2020.

Mr D had been renting space in a building, but his business was not separately listed on the ratings lists.

He said the Council told him that he needed to contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to ask it to create a separate entry for his business premises on the rating list.

The report says: "Mr D believes the Council gave him an assurance at that time, that he would receive a grant if the VOA gave the premises a separate listing.

Ombudsman dismisses complaint against Bradford planning department

By late May 2020 he had the separate rating, and had been granted small business rate relief.

However, his grant request was declined by the Council.

The ombudsman said while the Council was not at fault in refusing the grant, the advice it gave Mr D was "flawed" as it should have let him know sooner he was unlikely to receive a grant.

The report said: "I have considered if the Council was at fault for refusing Mr D’s business a grant. I am satisfied it was not.

"This is for the reasons the Council explained to Mr D in its correspondence. I find no reason to challenge its interpretation of the relevant government guidance.

"But I find the Council should have made Mr D aware sooner that he would not qualify for a grant. 

"(The Council's) notes suggest it told Mr D he would receive a grant if the VOA agreed to provide a separate listing for his business.

"I consider this advice flawed as I find Mr D’s business could not receive such a grant for the reasons explained above.

"The Council also missed the opportunity to correct its advice in emails exchanged the following day.

"The email it sent to Mr D did not correct the impression that if the VOA agreed to create a separate listing for his business premises then he would receive a grant. These poor communications justify a finding of fault.

"I also consider this fault caused injustice for Mr D.

"The Council wrongly raised his expectations of receiving a grant and so he suffered distress when he later found out he could not receive one."

The Council was ordered send a written apology and pay Mr D £100 to compensate for the "distress" caused.

A Bradford Council spokesperson, said: “Since April 2020, the council has paid out almost 33,000 Covid-19 business grants. All these grants have been paid in keeping with the criteria set by the government.

“We have always strived to ensure our communication to business owners is clear and transparent.

"The council welcomes the Ombudsman’s finding that our decision on the business’s eligibility was correct and accept that in this instance our communication could have been better.

“We have apologised to the business owner and paid the recommended £100 reparation.”