Buckinghamshire Council has successfully prosecuted a firm over a fraudulent application for a Covid-19 business grant.

S&K Prop Ltd, based in London, submitted a bid for a £25,000 grant for the George Inn, Post Office Lane, in Slough in April 2020.

It was seeking money from the ‘Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund’ that was introduced by the government during the pandemic.

The grant, which was administered by local authorities, was intended to provide additional support to local businesses impacted negatively by Covid restrictions.

Businesses needed to be rate payers for the business premises the application related to and needed to occupy the premises to be eligible for the grant.

However, investigations by the council revealed that this was not the case as a separate company, Milegate Ltd, was at that address, not S&K Prop.

The council said the ‘fraudulent application’ by S&K Prop was discovered before any grant funding was handed out, meaning that no public money was lost.

S&K Prop submitted a guilty plea to two charges of fraud by false representation and appeared at Aylesbury Crown Court for sentencing on August 30.

The judge imposed a fine of £20,625 and costs of £10,750 and gave the firm six months to pay both.

John Chilver, the council’s cabinet member for accessible housing and resources said: “The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grants given out during the pandemic were designed to support legitimate businesses who were negatively affected by circumstances out of their control.”