COVID-19: Grant funding for business - Updated: 18 May 2021

  • Grant funding for business

     

    What cash grants are available to support businesses during the Cornonavirus crisis?

     

    An index with links and summaries.

Funding to pay employee wages.

Grant funding for the self-employed.

Test and Trace Payments

£500 payment for those on low income who are forced to self-isolate.

Restart Grant Scheme

Local council grants for businesses in the non-essential retail sector to support reopening as restrictions are lifted.

For businesses in England that are required to shut because of local interventions.

Funding for businesses eligible for Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and Rural Rates Relief (RRR).

Businesses in England in receipt of the rates Expanded Retail Discount with a rateable value of less than £51,000.

Of £25,000, £10,000 or any amount under £10,000 for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes. Closed June 2020.  See Local Restrictions Support Grant for November 2020 +.

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For new six-month job placements for 16-24 year-olds

Financial assistance for England’s fishing and aquaculture

Launched on 29 April 2020 and closed on 11 May 2020

An animal welfare grant of up to £100,000 for your zoo or aquarium

Farmers who have lost more than 25% of their income

Film & TV Production Restart Scheme

For UK film and TV productions struggling to get insurance for COVID-related costs and help productions back up and running.

Grants for the rest of the UK

 

Wales:

 

  • Welsh Government Business Grants (Grants 1 & 2)
  • Economic Resilience Fund

 

Scotland:

 

  • Business Support Fund
  • Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund
  • Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund
  • Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund
  • Aquaculture Hardship Fund
  • Sea Fisheries Hardship Fund

 

Northern Ireland:

 

  • Small Business Support Grant Scheme
  • Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Grant

 

Restart Grant Scheme

 

  • The Restart Grant Scheme supports businesses in reopening safely as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Grants are available from 1 April 2021.
  • Eligible businesses in the non-essential retail sector may be entitled to a one-off cash grant of up to £6,000 from their local council.
  • Those businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors may be entitled to a one-off cash grant of up to £18,000 from their local council.

 

See Restart Grant Scheme opened

 

Local Restrictions Support Grant

 

As updated on 5 January 2021:

 

New grants announced for closures due to the new national lockdown, based on the rateable value of business property:

 

    Grant     Rateable Value

    £4,000   Up to £15,000

    £6,000   £15,001 - £51,000

    £9,000   Over £51,000

 

 

As updated on 29 October 2020:

 

  • For properties with a rateable value of less than £51,000 grants of £1,000 for each three week period that the business is closed.
  • For properties with a rateable value over £51,000, grants of £1,500 for each three week period that the business is closed.
  • The grant will be extended to cover each additional 3-week period, so if your business is closed for 6 weeks it will receive £2,000 or £3,000, depending on the rateable value of the property.
  • If the business does not pay rates, a grant of £1,500 may be payable at the discretion of your local council.

 

See Local Restrictions Support Grant

 

 

Small Business Grant Fund, Rural Rates Relief and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant

 

Grant          Eligibility criteria

£10,000       Any business eligible for Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and Rural Rates Relief (RRR)

£10,000       A retail, hospitality and leisure business with a rateable value of up to £15,000

£25,000       A retail, hospitality and leisure business rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000

£ nil             Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme

 

 

Hereditaments (premises) included in this scheme are those which on the 11 March 2020 were eligible for relief under the business rate Small Business Rate Relief Scheme (including those with a Rateable Value between £12,000 and £15,000 which receive tapered relief) or are eligible to the Expanded Retail Discount and have a rateable value of less than £51,000.

 

Excluded properties

 

  • Hereditaments occupied for personal uses. Examples of where there may be personal use include private stables and loose boxes, beach huts and moorings.
  • Car parks and parking spaces.
  • Businesses which as of the 11 March were in liquation or were dissolved.
  • Hereditaments with a rateable value of over £51,000.

 

Only one grant may be awarded per hereditament.

 

See: Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund Guidance

 

 

 

Discretionary Grant Fund 2 : January 2021

 

There will be a new £594 million Discretionary Grant Fund available for those businesses who are not eligble for the latest LRSG funding. Details are yet to be published.

 

Discretionary Grant Fund 1: March to June 2020

 

A Discretionary Grant Fund for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes.

 

A grant of £25,000, £10,000 or any amount under £10,000.

 

A business is potentially eligible if it:

 

  • is based in England
  • has fewer than 50 employees
  • has fixed building costs such as rent
  • was trading on 11 March 2020
  • has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus
  • are not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.

 

Priority applications are given to:

 

  • Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces, such as units in industrial parks or incubators
  • Regular market traders
  • Bed and breakfasts paying council tax instead of business rates
  • Charity properties getting charitable business rates relief, which are not eligible for small business rates relief or rural rate relief.

 

You cannot apply if:

 

  • Your business is in administration, insolvent or has received a striking-off notice.
  • If you’re already claiming under another government grant scheme, although you may also claim for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.

 

How to apply

 

Go to your local council’s website to find out how to apply. Applications close at 9am on 15 June 2020.

 

 

 

Fisheries Response Fund

 

  • £10 million financial assistance for England’s fishing and aquaculture businesses in response to Covid-19 was announced on 17 April 2020. See Fisheries Response Fund
  • A further announcement on 2 June 2020 is that qualifying businesses will receive a further and final payment under the Fisheries Response Fund.

 

See Fisheries Response Fund further payment for eligible business.

 

Domestic Seafood Supply Fund (DSSS)

 

  • This was launched on 29 April 2020 and closed on 11 May 2020.

 

See DSSS scheme

 

 

 

Zoos Hardship Fund

 

An animal welfare grant of up to £100,000 for your zoo or aquarium affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).

 

You can apply to the Zoos Support Fund if your zoo or aquarium is based in England and either:

 

  • holds a licence (full or dispensation) under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981
  • has been granted an exemption under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 and holds a licence under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018

 

See Support for Zoos and Aquariums

 

 

 

Dairy Hardship Fund

 

  • Farmers who have lost more than 25% of their income will be able to claim up to £10,000
  • Eligible farmers will be able to claim for 70% of their losses based on volumes delivered in April and May.

 

See Defra: New funding to support dairy farmers

 

 

 

 

Film & TV Production Restart Scheme

 

The scheme provides £500 million for UK film and TV productions struggling to get insurance for COVID-related costs and help productions back up and running.

 

Note: The formal commencement of the scheme is conditional upon the European Commission providing State Aid approval.

 

Registration deadline: 31 December 2020. Claims will be able to be submitted up to 30 November 2021 for losses incurred up until 23:59 GMT on 30 June 2021.

 

Applications can now be made via the appointed Third Party Administrator, Marsh Commercial.

 

See HM Treasury: Film & TV Production Restart Scheme - Draft Rules

 

See HM Treasury: Film & TV Production Restart Scheme - Draft Explanatory Notes

 

 

 

Kickstart Scheme

 

The government’s ‘Kickstart’ job creation scheme aims to help young unemployed people. It is now open for applications.

 

Kickstart was announced by the Chancellor in his summer economic update.

 

The scheme can be used to create new six-month job placements for 16-24 year-olds currently on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.

 

See Kickstart Scheme

 

 

FAQs

 

Are these grants taxable?

 

  • The government have confirmed that these grants will be taxable as income. The business can then claim tax relief on the expenditure supported by the grant.
  • A consultation ‘Taxation of Coronavirus (COVID-19) support payments’ closed in June 2020 on draft legislation which includes measures to tax the grants available, recover payments from businesses not entitled to them and penalise deliberate non-compliance.
  • See: COVID-19: Taxation of Coronavirus Support Payments

 

What are the VAT implications?

 

HMRC have not provided any guidance as to whether the grants will be subject to VAT or count towards turnover for VAT registration limits. Normal principles are expected to apply meaning:

 

  • The grants would be outside the scope of VAT and no output VAT should have to be accounted for.
  • The grant income should be disregarded for VAT registration and deregistration limits.

 

What about state aid rules?

 

UK Government grants counts towards state aid.

 

  • Payments of £10,000 or less count towards the total de minimis state aid limit over a 3 year period of €200,000.
  • If you have reached that threshold, you may still be eligible for funding under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework.
  • Payments of £25,000 count as state aid under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework. The limit for the framework is €800,000.

 

Fraud

 

Anti-fraud: any business caught falsifying their records to gain additional grant money will face prosecution and any funding issued will be subject to clawback.

 

External links

 

Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund Guidance

 

 

 

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