The Government has instructed local councils to carry out checks on all grants that were paid to businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To provide some financial stability and help businesses stay afloat, grants were allocated and paid swiftly, but now councils need to carry out more detailed checks to validate them, making sure they were paid to the right businesses in the right way.

Council staff from all districts will be contacting business owners across the borough between now and the end of March 2021 to make the checks.

Cllr Robert Vines, lead member for finance and asset management at Tewkesbury Borough Council, said: "I would to like stress that anyone who received a grant need not worry. These are standard checks that, under normal circumstances, would have been conducted in detail before any payment was processed. However, as the pandemic had such a detrimental effect on local businesses, it was recognised that the usual level of detail was not a priority and we made the payments swiftly, with the intention of validating them at a later date.

"It's important businesses are aware that we're doing this as many people will, quite rightly, be wary of sharing their personal information. If anyone is worried about the validity of the communication they receive, they can check by visiting: https://covid19.tewkesbury.gov.uk/business-rate-relief-and-grants."

Expect the other councils in the county to give further details on what they will be doing in the next few days.