Almost 1,500 businesses in Wiltshire risk missing out on a share of £17m in government grants as the deadline is due to close on Friday, August 28.

Finance experts, money.co.uk have issued an urgent reminder to small businesses across the England that they risk losing out on funding from the government’s small and medium business grant schemes, aimed at providing emergency funds during Covid-19.

The figures from money.co.uk reveal that Wiltshire Council is among Local Authorities with the highest number of eligible businesses that are yet to claim, as data reveals that 1,405 SMEs are at risk of missing out on grants from the council.

Initially, Wiltshire Council allocated £106,328,000 worth of funding to 8,879 businesses.

To date, 7,474 businesses have received grant funding and unless businesses claim grants prior to tomorrow’s deadline, the council will be returning £17,203,000 to the UK government.

Although Wiltshire is among the areas with the highest number of eligible businesses yet to receive a grant, they are among the councils that have paid out the greatest amount of emergency funds across England. Paying local businesses a total of £89,125,000.