AN Ombudsman has declined to investigate a complaint about Bradford Council's decision not to give a business a Covid support grant.

The complainant, referred to as Mr X in a newly released report, had complained to the Local Government Ombudsman after the Council refused to award it a business support grant last year.

To qualify for the retail, hospitality and leisure grant, the business' property had to be used for retail, hospitality or leisure, and open to the public, on March 11 2020. The report said the unit in question had been empty for over a year, but that Mr X was working to refurbish it in advance of the new shop opening.

The Council said that as the business was not trading as of March 11, and this was the reason it did not award the grant.

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The report said: "The Council said Mr X’s evidence (evidence of the tenancy, rent, utility supplies and purchase of materials for use in refurbishment work) only shows that at March 11 refurbishment work was underway and the tenant company had registered for utility supplies.

"The Council judged that was not evidence of a shop trading. "A Council officer also noted the property had been shuttered rather than open to customers. The Council decided it was appropriate in the circumstances to continue treating the property as unoccupied in rating terms, and therefore continue giving it relief from business rates.

"Therefore the Council decided the property was not eligible for a grant because it was not rateably occupied.

"The Council reached its decision based on its understanding of the law and the evidence it saw. Therefore the decision appears properly reached. Mr X is entitled to disagree with the Council but that does not enable the Ombudsman to fault the decision."