A £3 million pot of emergency Covid funding, yet to be claimed by Aberdeen businesses, is to be repurposed to help firms that need it most.
More than 1,400 people and companies received grants from the discretionary £6m fund between November and February.
But claims have since levelled off, leaving just more than half still with the council.
So far, £3.036m has been paid out to small and medium-sized businesses who otherwise had received little or no Covid-19 financial assistance.
Those include 365 grants to individuals, more than 50 to new, micro, small and medium businesses and more than 870 for taxi and private hire drivers.
In all, more than £70m has been administered by council staff in Aberdeen during the pandemic through the various relief funding.
But £3.087m remains, with Scottish Government guidance dictating the council should prioritise worthy businesses “based on their knowledge of the local economy”.
“Limits to the funding available through this scheme will inevitably require councils to prioritise which types of business should receive support and so local knowledge will be vital in determining where the funding will be most effectively deployed,” ministers added.
Leftover £3m to be used for further business grants
Councillors have now instructed chief city growth officer, Richard Sweetnam, to deliver further rounds of grants, once the local authority has sounded out businesses on why take up has been lower than expected.
Medium-sized firms, said city official Mark Bremner, had not been forthcoming.
He told members: “It would be a case of element of consultation with FSB and these groups to ask why members are not applying.
“Are the levels of funding not sufficient?
“There is a little bit more work to be done before we say who would be targeted with this.
“We are fairly confident, we have already been quite successful in terms of the amount we have been able to get out the door.”
An update on progress of the work, brought forward in a motion by resources convener Ryan Houghton, on the pay-out will be given in August.