The government has recently announced additional funding to support local small businesses with the launch of a Discretionary Grants Fund.
The new scheme, funding for which has been made available to local authorities, will pay grants to small businesses that were not eligible for grants from the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Grant Fund.
The Council has received a limited discretionary grant fund of £819,500 and will be using this to help as many local, small businesses, which meet the qualifying criteria, as possible. The maximum grant that will be paid from the fund to qualifying businesses is £10,000.
Each application received will be considered on its merits. In order to receive the grant the business will need to be :
- a small or micro business (as defined in Section 33, Part 2 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the Companies Act 2006)
- a business with relatively high on-going fixed property-related costs
- a business that can demonstrate it has suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis
- a business that occupies a property or part of a property with a rateable value, annual rent, or annual mortgage payments, below £51,000.
Businesses that have applied for the Coronavirus Job Retention (furlough) Scheme or the Self-Employed Income Support scheme (SEISS) are eligible to apply for the discretionary grant.
As grants will be paid per business and not per number of premises occupied, a single business will receive one grant payment regardless of the number of locations or sites it occupies.
Successful applicants will receive payment of the grant into their business account within four working days of receiving approval notification, stating the amount awarded.
This scheme has now finished and is no longer open to the public.