Spend Local: Deadline to spend £100 High Street voucher extended

Many people are waiting anxiously for their post

The deadline for spending the £100 High Street voucher has been extended until midnight Sunday 19 December, Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has said.

By Wednesday afternoon, more than 99% of cards had been delivered, according to the Department for the Economy.

Mr Lyons said "there has been a delay" in dispatching some cards.

As the deadline for Northern Ireland's Spend Local voucher scheme nears, thousands are still waiting for their card to be delivered.

However, as more than 1.4m people have applied for a voucher, the department's spokesman said "approximately 10,000" cards were still to be received.

Mr Lyons said the deadline "was tight for some people" but he is "convinced we will get those extra cards out to people".

He told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme that over 10,000 cards will be dispatched this week and "they will get to people over the next few days".

"Some applicants submitted evidence late, some errors were made and some duplicate applications were made and those had to be verified before they were sent out," he said.

He said £118m has been injected into the local economy since the scheme began.

He added the scheme has helped increase the number of shoppers in Northern Ireland to their highest point so far compared to pre-pandemic levels.

"It gives a few days to get out and get them spent - it's in our interest and in business' interest to get money back into local economy and get those cards spent," he added.

• Thousands waiting for High Street £100 voucher

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Retail NI chief Glyn Roberts said "it was only right" the minister extended the deadline because there was "a small but significant amount of cards that hadn't been dispatched".

"This is a very short-term boost for many of those traders, but it still helps them, as a lot of retailers are still trying to pay off the last lockdown," Mr Roberts told BBC Radio Foyle..

What is the Spend Local scheme?

Every resident in Northern Ireland aged 18 and over has been offered a £100 voucher from the Northern Ireland Executive, in an effort to encourage consumer spending and give the local economy a boost.

The £145m High Street voucher scheme was introduced by Stormont ministers to help bricks-and-mortar businesses recover from the disruption to trade caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The aim was to increase footfall in high streets, which have been badly affected by lockdowns, but the cards can be spent in a variety of businesses.

The pre-paid cards have been arriving through letterboxes since early October

How many people have applied for a Spend Local card?

Just over 1.436m applications have been received to date by Stormont's Department for Economy, which is responsible for running the voucher scheme.

At the outset, the department had estimated about 1.4m people would qualify under its rules.

How many people have received their cards already?

By Wednesday afternoon, 1,339,500 people had been "approved" for a Spend Local card - just 500 short of the department's 1.4m estimate.

A spokesman for the Department for the Economy said more than 99% of cards had been delivered.

When are the remaining cards expected to arrive?

On Thursday, the department said cards have been delivered to 99% of applicants and 10,000 cards are currently out for delivery this week.

It said the delay in dispatching some cards is due to a number of reasons including applicants submitting evidence late; errors in applications; late submissions and some applications identified as duplicates before being verified.

How much time were people given to spend their cards?

The High Street voucher scheme opened for applications on 27 September and saw huge demand in the early days of operation, with almost 500,000 requests on the first day.

The original cut-off date for spending the voucher had been 30 November, but that deadline was later extended to 19 December after problems administering some cards.

In total, the public as a whole were given just over 11 weeks to spend their voucher.

However, not everyone received their cards as quickly as had been expected and many are still waiting.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has been promoting the voucher scheme in recent weeks

Why are cards arriving so late?

There have been several problems administering the unprecedented scheme which has delayed the delivery of thousands of the requested vouchers.

At the start, the department said cards were expected to arrive by post between seven and 10 days after an application was submitted, with everyone getting at least a month to spend the money.

However, there were initial problems with the application page on the NI Direct website with some users complaining the site crashed after 500,000 people tried to apply on the first day.

By late October, the department said it could not automatically verify the identity of about 100,000 applicants from existing data and had to contact them to request more information.

There have also been complaints from a small number of users whose cards were rejected when they tried to pay in shops and other businesses.

Last month, the charity Advice NI said it was taking phone calls "all the time" from people having problems with the £100 Spend Local cards.

The department said some of the reasons for delays included applications being incorrectly identified as duplicates. It also received 1,500 late submissions.

How much money has been spent using Spend Local cards?

"To date more than £118m has been injected into the local economy as a result of this scheme," the Department for the Economy said in a statement on Wednesday.

It added: "Encouraging figures from the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium have also shown that footfall on our high streets has significantly improved compared to other areas of the UK."

How can I spend my £100 before the deadline?

Spend Local cards can be used to pay for goods and services at any business with a premises in Northern Ireland, as long as they have the equipment to accept card transactions.

However, the cards cannot be used for online shopping or to fund gambling.

They also cannot be used to withdraw cash or to settle fines such as parking tickets.

After receiving your voucher by post, you will be issued with a PIN code which you will need in order to you use your card for the first time. After that it can be used for contactless payments.

What will happen if I don't spend the voucher in time?

It is a matter of "use or lose it" as all Spend Local cards are due to expire on 19 December 2021 and cannot be used after this date.

The Department for the Economy said any unspent money remaining on cards after the deadline will return to its coffers.

It said it "encourages everyone to fully spend their card right up to the scheme closing date".

Is it now too late to apply for a £100 card?

Yes. The Department for the Economy stopped accepting new applications at midnight on 25 October 2021.

Many applicants were also asked for extra documentation to verify their identity and the deadline for submitting this information was midnight on Friday 12 November.