New lockdown grant schemes open

Derby City Council has announced that applications are now being accepted for grants to support city businesses who have been impacted by the new national lockdown restrictions.

Since the second lockdown began, many Derby businesses have been forced to close until Wednesday 2nd December.

The Government has made £1.1 billion of new funding available for two grant schemes to support those affected – and the city council has now launched the application process for the separate schemes.

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To help businesses determine which grant to apply for, the city council is asking businesses to answer three questions: Are you registered for business rates within Derby City? Has your business got a rateable value? Has your business been forced to close?

If the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’ firms should apply for the Local Restrictions Support Grant.

If the answer is ‘no’ but you have still been impacted by the current four-week lockdown, then apply for the Additional Restrictions Grant.

The Local Restrictions Support Grant is a mandatory grant for businesses that have a rateable value and that have been forced to close or stop their main business activity.

For the four-week period of the national measures, eligible businesses will receive one payment per property. The rate of payment for eligible businesses will be:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, grants to be £1,334 per four weeks.

• For properties with a rateable value of over £15,000 and below £51,000 grants to be £2,000 per four weeks.

• For properties with a rateable value of £51,000 or over, grants to be £3,000 per four weeks.

The Additional Restrictions Grant is a discretionary scheme for those businesses who have been severely impacted by the new national lockdown but do not have a rateable value or have not been forced to close.

The payments available for eligible businesses will be:

• For businesses that work from a shared workspace or do not own or rent their own business premises, grants to be £1,334 per four weeks.

• For businesses that own or rent their own business premises, grants to be £2,000 per four weeks.

• For businesses that own or rent their own business premises and are larger in size (based on headcount or total fixed cost base), grants to be £3,000 per four weeks.

As part of the application form, businesses will be required to explain the detrimental impact that the new national lockdown has had on their operations.

To apply, businesses will need to log into their Derby MyAccount and apply here for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) and apply here for the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

Councillor Nicola Roulstone, the city council’s cabinet member for finance and procurement, said: “We are pleased this additional funding has been made available to support our local businesses.

“Our teams have worked incredibly hard to turn this around quickly, so we are now able to go live with this new application system.

“We are confident that we’ll be able to process applications effectively and get the grants paid as quickly as possible to help those businesses in need due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19.”

In terms of the wider county, applications will be handled by individual district and borough councils.

Visitor economy businesses can also now apply for digitalisation grants of up to £10,000. For more information visit click here.

Bondholders wanting to find out more about how to access financial support should tune in to the latest Talking Business Live event, which takes place online on Thursday, 19th November, from 9am to 10am, where a panel of experts will discuss the help available.

For more information click here.