CARMARTHENSHIRE County Council is responding to support local businesses impacted by the Coronavirus crisis.

Staff have already processed more than 1,000 applications to the value of £15million for a Welsh Government business support grant, since application forms were first made available a fortnight ago.

Most of these payments processed have already been paid to the businesses who are struggling to manage in these difficult times.

The council is prioritising the turnaround of these grants as quickly as possible, recognising the importance of the support to businesses.

The grant support package is available for all businesses listed on the business rates register on March 20, 2020, and fall with the following categories:

• In the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000, a grant of £25,000 for the business is available

• Businesses eligible for Small Business Rates Relief with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, are entitled to a grant of £10,000.

Also available is a year-long business rates holiday for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Wales (where rateable value is below £500,000).

Cllr David Jenkins, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Resources, said: “We appreciate this is an extremely challenging time for businesses, but I’d like to reassure businesses in Carmarthenshire that the council is doing all it can to help.

“Since the Welsh Government financial support application forms were first made available nearly a fortnight ago, council officers have been pulling out all the stops to process the claims and respond to any queries as quickly as possible.

“Processing more than £15million worth of claims in less than a fortnight shows how committed the council is to help.

“The Welsh Government support is among a series of financial packages either now available or planned to be available, with the council also working up further support over and above what is already in place.”

Businesses eligible for support are encouraged to apply – council staff aim to get all payments to businesses within 10 days of receiving applications.

There is no need to follow applications up via phone, council staff will make every effort to get payments to businesses as soon as possible.

The application form can be found at newsroom.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/coronavirus.

Businesses can find the rateable value of their properties at gov.uk/correct-your-business-rates.