Business Support Grants

The Government has announced that it will provide some additional grant support for businesses. This support is aimed at supporting those businesses included within the Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions and then all those that have been required to close from the beginning of the national restrictions on 5th November.  Whilst this does provide some welcome news for some businesses it may not be perfect but I hope this note is helpful:

• The grants will be available to more businesses than the previous grant scheme as the rateable threshold has been removed.
• The support is aimed at all businesses that have been forced to close as a result of the latest lockdown
• The support will be paid every four weeks for as long the lockdown continues.
• Backdated discretionary grants may also be paid to businesses that were adversely affected by the tier 2 restrictions. 

 Sadly the Government allocation to the City of london is only a fraction of the funding being provided to other local authorities. Given this lobbying is continuing to try to obtain additional funding for the City from Central Government to support business.

There are four types of grant available:

Localised Restriction Support Grant (Open) – LRSG (O)

Backdated cash grants for businesses in Local Alert Level 2 (High) and 3 (Very High) areas  - These are Discretionary Grants and the funding level has not yet been confirmed by Government.

Government have suggested that these grants should be aimed at Businesses in hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors that have been suffering from reduced demand for a while will receive backdated grants at 70% of the value of closed grants up to a maximum of £2,100 per month for this period. The funding will run from 17 October (for the City), to the start of the new national restrictions on 5 November.

The City will be setting out how this works as soon as possible.

Localised Restriction Support Grant (Closed ) – LRSG (C)

Business Grants for closed business 

Businesses that are eligible are those that have been mandated to close by Government and include non-essential retail, leisure, personal care, sports facilities and hospitality businesses.

The Government will provide funding to local authorities in England so that grants worth up to £3,000 per month can be distributed to business premises forced to close.  Businesses required to close in England due to restrictions will be eligible for the following:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per four weeks;  
• For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per four weeks;  
• For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per four weeks. 

Local Restrictions Grant Sector – (Closed) – LRSG (S)

Nightclubs and sexual entertainment venues as only properties closed since March

Specific support for venues that were not previously receiving assistance. This is a fixed grant of £3,000 paid every four weeks but is payable from 1st November. For the City this grant will be calculated for 4 days and then those eligible will become eligible to the LRSG (C).

Additional Restriction Support Grant (ARG) – Discretionary Scheme

The Government have also announced additional funding for a discretionary grant scheme -Additional Restriction Support Grant (ARG). This is based on funding of £20 per head. Based on ONS data this would mean that the city will receive £194,000 to support 22,160 businesses. This funding is to allow each authority to assist various sectors within their area that might not otherwise receive support. The guidance recommends assisting businesses in the retail and leisure supply chain or businesses that do not have a business rate assessment such as market traders. Eligibility and the individual amounts of each grant will be determined by the local authority.   

Application Process will be announced soon

These grants will be administered through the City Revenues Team in a similar way to the previous grant schemes.   The City Revenues Team will publish detailed guidance and the process for administering the grants on the City website once the administration process has been finalised.