HOSPITALITY businesses in Dorset whose Christmas season was wrecked by the Omicron crisis received millions less than the government promised in support.

The government allocated £635million to councils to hand out as grants of up to £6,000 to individual hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses.

But analysis of government data by real estate adviser Altus Group found that only £305m had been distributed as of February 27, when there were three weeks to go before the cut-off for applications.

Robert Hayton, UK president of Altus Group, called it a “postcode lottery”.

“These types of businesses saw one of their most valuable trading periods wiped out and simply didn’t get the support they needed quickly enough. I just hope councils rallied at the end,” he said.

Altus found BCP Council and Dorset Council had distributed less than a third of the allocated amount – although both authorities say the final totals were significantly higher.

Dorset had distributed £3.13m, or 30.2 per cent of its allocated £10.33m as of February 27, according to Altus.

A Dorset Council spokesperson said; “The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure scheme closed on March 31. Dorset Council has awarded £4,912,362 to businesses in Dorset.

“We received just over £10m. This was not all distributed because there were criteria to be met by the business. The funding is ringfenced so we cannot use it for anything other than the use if was intended by government. There is no discretionary element.

“We will return the excess to government once we have undergone a reconciliation process. It is not uncommon for government to provide an overestimate; an underestimate could present severe cash-flow issues for councils and in reality the govt have no accurate idea as to how many businesses may qualify.”

BCP Council had handed out £1.3m, or 29.2 per cent of its allocated £4.46m, as of February 27, Altus said.

A statement by deputy council leader Cllr Philip Broadhead said the omicron hospitality and leisure grant was the second of two government schemes.

“The government allocated a potential maximum of £4,464,261 for this pot, and in total 1,005 businesses applied for this, with £3,520,861 being allocated – around 79 per cent of the total potential allocation,” he said.

Under the other scheme, the Omicron additional relief grant, the council had distributed 97.2 per cent of the £628,000 allocated, he said.

“In the next month, BCP Council plans further support by rate relief to eligible businesses who have been impacted by Covid-19, who have not previously received support and are within the region’s manufacturing and engineering sectors,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We have backed businesses throughout the pandemic with an unprecedented package of support worth around £400billion, including £22bn in government grants paid to firms through local councils.

“We have worked with councils to have them deliver grants as quickly as possible and we continue to stand behind businesses.”

The government, which is due to publish updated figures on the distribution of the grants, wrote to councils in January to urge them to pay out.