Lockdown Updates 2021
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced another grant worth £4.6 billion for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses along with announcement of a lockdown amid the new Covid strain and the rising number of Covid cases across UK.
Businesses across the retail, hospitality
and leisure sector have faced closure since March 2020, with a brief and restricted reopening and further closure. Thousands of businesses are under growing debts due to the prolonged closure and uncertainty resulting in lost staff and squashed profits.
The latest grant will offer a one-off grant of up to £9000 per-property to businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors and is expected to help around 600,000 businesses across the UK. A further £594 million discretionary funds are also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants that might be affected by the restrictions.
How to apply for the new top-up grant?
The Government is giving the new fund to Local councils to distribute among small and big businesses. To apply for the grant you can find the right local council for your business from the governments’ website here.
How do I know how much top-up my business is entitled to?
It will be easier for councils to calculate how much top-up grant each business is entitled to because the system is the same that was implemented to give out the Local Restrictions Support Group Grants that were offered in November.
The government has further cleared the terms of the top-up by informing that the amount each business will be offered will be based up on business rates typically paid by a site, meaning;
-
£4,000 for businesses with a ratable value of £15,000 or under
-
£6,000 for businesses with a ratable value between £15,000 and £51,000
-
£9,000 for businesses with a ratable value of over £51,000
Further to this, the government has previously provided 100% business rate relief to businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure. The £594 million discretionary funds will be distributed to help businesses that do not fall in the above mentioned sectors
What documentation will I require to make an application?
In order to make an application for grants, business owners will mostly need to provide information including:
-
A valid UK passport or driving license;
-
A business rates account number;
-
A VAT registration number;
-
A company registration number;
-
A unique taxpayer reference (UTR)
-
Copies of business account bank statements.
Businesses excluded from the fund
You cannot get funding if:
-
You are not providing in-person and direct services from your premises and are continuing to operate during the restrictions period.
-
You have chosen to close, but have not been required to close as part of national restrictions
-
Your business is in administration, insolvent or has been struck off the Companies House register
-
You have exceeded the permitted state aid limit
