Full details of discretionary business grants advice

Following the Government announcement on May 1 about a top up grant for businesses that are not eligible for other grants, the guidance to local authorities was released to the Council on May 13.

The council has prepared a local scheme, which can be found on our Coronavirus business pages.

The guidance from Government indicates that these grants are primarily and predominantly aimed at:

• Small and micro businesses, as defined in Section 33 Part 2 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the Companies Act 2006.
• Businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs
• Businesses which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis
• Businesses which occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000.

The information that we have now published sets out the criteria for which priority businesses are eligible to apply, the application process and the date from which applications can be made.