New grant programme for businesses opens today

The Council has opened the second Covid Discretionary Business Grant Programme for local businesses affected by the current lockdown.

From today, (Monday, November 16th) Blackburn with Darwen Council will deliver limited financial support for businesses closed or severely impacted by the Government’s announcement of a further national lockdown which started on November 5th.

The Council is already providing financial support to companies with a Business Rates assessment who are required to close due to the national restrictions.

However, the new discretionary grant programme will let the Council provide a level of financial support to closed businesses in shared accommodation with no Business Rates listing, for example, and also provide some financial support for open businesses that are severely impacted by their dependence on closed businesses and disrupted supply chains.

The Council will look to provide financial support to cover fixed property costs up to a maximum of £3,000 per month for businesses which must close and £2,100 for struggling open businesses, subject to eligibility.

The window for applications will be open until December 2^nd 2020.

The Council is expecting over 100 eligible local businesses to receive grants in the coming days as part of efforts to fast-track support to those businesses most affected.

Further calls for applications will be made subject to local business need and available funds.

For more details on the existing mandatory and new discretionary grants and to access the application forms, local businesses can go to the following link. Click on the business grants section and the discretionary grant information is there: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/coronavirus/support-business

Phil Riley, the Council’s Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:

The Covid pandemic is having a major impact on the health and livelihoods of our residents and businesses and as ever, we are doing everything in our power to help.

We welcome the financial support from the Government to support local businesses impacted by this lockdown, but our financial allocation fails to reflect the fact that the borough has endured the brunt of Covid for longer and more harshly than the rest of the country.

We will aim to support as many eligible local businesses as possible though funding is limited.”