£500,000 remains unspent on Shop Local cards

Herefordshire Council has said thousands of Shop Local cards have yet to be activated and more than half a million pounds remains to be spent.

Nearly 60,000 shop local prepaid cards have been sent out to households across the county as part of Herefordshire Council’s scheme to help local retailers recover from the pandemic. 

Residents who haven’t yet activated their card are urged to follow the simple activation steps and spend their £15 before the cards expire at the end of March.

New figures show 58,893 cards have been issued across the county and that so far just over 40,000 have been activated. In total, the cards have been used by householders to spend more than £315,000.

More than £500,000 remains unspent on the cards – and the council is reminding householders to move quickly to beat the 31 March 2022 deadline.

Councillor Ellie Chowns, Cabinet member for environment and economy, said they were delighted with the numbers of people who had applied for their Shop Local card before applications closed.

“The figures we achieved for applications are tremendous, but time is starting to run out for people to both activate their cards and spend the money on them.

“This money will not be available to spend after 31 March 2022 so we would urge anyone who has yet to activate their card — or who still has money left on an active card — to take advantage of the scheme now.”

The Shop Local scheme is designed to help local producers and retailers and is part of a wider £6million council programme, funded through the government’s covid recovery fund, to boost the local economy, including free weekend bus travel, grants for small businesses and a phone app to reward local shopping.

Over 1,500 individual businesses in Herefordshire have accepted card payments.