NI high street voucher generates £135m boost to economy

• WATCH: Full report by UTV Reporter Peter Moor

The high street voucher scheme generated a boost of at least £135million for the Northern Ireland economy, it has been revealed.

Over 1.4m cards were sent out to households across the region in a bid to stimulate the economy in the wake of the devastation brought by the shutdowns and restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The information was released as the deadline expired for people who had not received the card, or who struggled to activate their voucher.

Despite the deadline being extended twice, there were reports that some were still struggling to use their £100 voucher.

Some politicians have called for the deadline to once again be extended.

In a statement the Department for the Economy said: "While over 99.5% of eligible applicants received their cards before the scheme ended and encountered no issue with their card, a small proportion of the population did not receive their Spend Local Cards or experienced problems activating or using their cards.

"Further detailed information and analysis – including the final verified spend figure – will be published after the scheme has closed for all participants."

With the scheme having come to a close, local businesses welcomed the initiative, calling it a "lifeline".

"It was very quiet for a period of time," said Nayem Samad, who opened Caffe Zaza in east Belfast in February 2020 just before the first lockdown.

"As soon as the voucher came into play, you just saw town was heaving, Belfast, Ballyhackamore was really busy.

"My regular customers coming in and saying I want to spend this money on you so it was a really nice gesture to be honest.

"I was extremely happy and I thought this is actually a really good incentive."

Jay Adams from Corries Farm Butcher said it really helped his business.

"We got a lot of new customers in and we have a lot of customers who are already with us spending the whole £100."

Roger Pollen from the Federation of Small Businesses added: "December is very much the harvest month for the retail industry."

"The voucher came along at exactly the right time to make sure people re-engaged with their shops and that the harvest was good and plentiful.

"It helps to sustain businesses throughout the cold months of January and February," he added.