December 2021

WARWICKSHIRE MEANS BUSINESS

Richly-deserved award hails the stars that delivered Adapt & Diversify

"During lockdown, a challenging time for everybody, they responded brilliantly with skill, good nature and sheer hard work...I could not be more proud of them."

The team behind a grant scheme developed to help many businesses recover from the pandemic has received due recognition with a much-coveted Warwickshire County Council Star Award, wining Exceptional Team of the Year.

The Adapt & Diversify scheme, created by the council's Economy & Skills team, opened its first round on February 1st and by mid-November had paid out £1million to Warwickshire businesses.

No effort was spared to get the much-needed grants to businesses as quickly as possible. This meant many long days and much burning of midnight oil, a task to which the Business & Economy team applied themselves uncomplainingly.

So high was the response from businesses, with both rounds of the scheme fully subscribed within hours, that many members of the wider Economy & Skills team got stuck in alongside tackling their own workload to help process applications.

The Star Award citation said: "It was the second national lockdown and, while there was support in place to help with immediate cashflow problems, there was little to support economic recovery. The Council agreed to allocate £1.5 million to establish a grant scheme for businesses most impacted by the pandemic. The scheme was designed so that funding could be allocated to businesses most in need as quickly as possible, whilst also ensuring that the appropriate systems and controls were in place for the use of public money."

Alison Robinson, Strategy and Commissioning Manager (Economy & Skills) paid the warmest of tributes to the team.

"I could not be more proud of them," she said. "Just when small business urgently needed direct support, everybody working on Adapt & Diversify went way beyond the call of duty to get claims assessed, processed and delivered.

"During lockdown, a challenging time for everybody, they responded brilliantly with skill, good nature and sheer hard work. All year they have continued, and still continue, to ensure that the Adapt & Diversify scheme materially helps small businesses and everyone in Warwickshire's communities who depends upon them."

For further information about support available to businesses in Warwickshire please visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/business-support

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