Lewes chairman: Why has non-league's £14m help fund shrunk to £10m?

Lewes are to apply for a grant, but are asking why the pot available has shrunk / Picture: James Boyes

And he claims the process by which clubs can access a share of the £10m has been made unnecessarily complicated and costly.

Fuller spoke out as Lewes prepared to bid for cash that will help them offset costs in the first three months of 2021.

Clubs at the Rooks’ level – step three – are eligible for up to £27,000 of aid, but the grants cover only the current three-month period – and there is no cash help to make up for the long spells in 2020 when clubs were also shut down and not earning any income.

“A sum of £14m was announced for steps three to six but it now appears to be £10m. Where has that £4m, or 29 per cent of the package, gone?” he said.

Fuller said the grant money would assist the club but did not cover anything like the whole period in which finances had been badly hit.

And there is no news yet of whether the government will pitch in beyond March.

Fuller said rather than making clubs apply for grants, the authorities could pay out the £10m automatically – then clubs facing particular hardship should be able to apply for a top-up from the 'extra' £4m.

“Another question is what happens if some clubs don’t apply, or don’t ask for the full amount,” he said. “If only £8m or £9m is handed out, is the other £1m or £2m available to clubs that need it?”

Financial worries for clubs who have played little football in the past 11 months comes as they wait to hear whether the 2020-21 non-league season will be written off.

Clubs have been surveyed over whether the season should be terminated or whether another way of concluding it should be pursued.

Fuller said he hoped there would be a decision by the end of next week, and it was hard to see anything other than another null and void campaign.

“I fully understand the views of Worthing and Hastings in wanting promotion to be worked out for all their hard work over two seasons,” he said. “But things are complicated by what happens in steps one and two (National League) and I’d be surprised if the FA agreed to any new proposal.”