Covid grant received by firm owned by Sacha Lord faces 'additional checks'

The Arts Council has revealed it will be 'conducting additional checks' into an application made for Covid support funding by a company owned by Sacha Lord.

Mr Lord is the co-founder of the Parklife music festival, the Warehouse Project club nights and in 2018 was made the region's first night time economy adviser by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Primary Event Solutions, where he was a director, received a grant of more than £400,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund, administered by the Arts Council during the pandemic. Primary Event Solutions was wound up last year.

READ MORE: Remembering the 22 lives lost at Manchester Arena, seven years on

The Culture Recovery Fund, a £1.57bn rescue package to help ‘cultural organisations’ survive following the coronavirus pandemic, was launched by the government in July 2020.

Primary Event Solutions made an application to the fund on January 25, 2021, some six months after the fund was launched, according to the Arts Council.

The application was a success and an award totalling £401,928 was offered to the company on March 29, 2021, according to the Arts Council, and paid in a series of installments.

The Arts Council had received a complaint about the grant in December 2022, but concluded that there had been no misuse of public funds.

However, last week hyperlocal email newsletter The Mill, published a story detailing allegations about the application for the grant which has led to Sacha Lord suing them for defamation.

On Monday, The Mill's editor, Joshi Herrmann, appealed in his newsletter for help, saying: 'Sacha Lord is threatening to sue us. Give us a hand."

Mr Herrmann then urged readers to send him 'tips, documents or leads' about the affairs of Primary Event Solutions