New Lockdown Grants announced

More support for businesses has been announced as the country enters a further lockdown.

The Government announced that the current lockdown would start on Tuesday, January 5^th and is currently due to last until at least February 15^th.

Top-up Grants

The Chancellor has announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the Spring.

The one-off top-ups will be granted to businesses who are required by law to close as follows:

• £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
• £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
• £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000

The Council is awaiting further guidance on this grant and will make payment to those eligible businesses at the earliest opportunity.

The new one-off grants come in addition to the existing support grants available to businesses required by law to close, and if you have already applied for and received a grant payment, you do not need to reapply.

Discretionary Grants

In addition, Businesses can now apply for the next round of the Council’s Discretionary Grants.

The application window to access financial support from our discretionary business grant programme is now open until January 17^th.

This gives limited financial support for businesses which have to close by law as a result of the new restrictions, and is aimed at supporting those businesses which do not have a Business Rates assessment, such as those in shared accommodation. The discretionary fund will also support businesses which are still open but who are severely impacted by the restrictions, subject to eligibility and available funds.

Businesses which were paid a grant following the national lockdown in November do not need to re-apply.

Councillor Phil Riley, Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:

This new support from the Government is of course welcome, and is very much needed. Our local businesses have suffered more than most as we have endured tougher restrictions than much of the country for most of 2020 and this is continuing into 2021.

We have opened up more discretionary grants for businesses that are not eligible for the main support grants and we hope this will go some way to help as well. We will continue to work hard to help businesses and the local economy any way we can, but our funds are limited. We will be lobbying the Government again for further help and hope more will be forthcoming soon.”

More detail on the grants, including how to apply, can be found here: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/coronavirus/support-business