Additional grant aid for local lockdown businesses

Last month the Treasury announced further support for businesses adversely affected by lockdown in local areas to control local outbreaks.

Local Authorities will be funded to pay the grants now offered.

Businesses in England required to close

Businesses in England required to close due to local lockdowns or targeted restrictions will now be able to receive grants worth up to £1,500 every three weeks, To be eligible for the grant, a business must have been required to close due to local COVID-19 restrictions. Grants will be paid out every three weeks businesses are required to close. During each three week period:

• Largest businesses will receive £1,500
• Smaller businesses will receive £1,000.

H M Treasury also released the following notes:

• any businesses still closed at a national level (e.g. nightclubs), will not be eligible

• if a business occupies premises with a rateable value less than £51,000 or occupies a property or part of a property subject to an annual rent or mortgage payment of less than £51,000, it will receive £1000
• if a business occupies premises with a rateable value of exactly £51,000 or above or occupies a property or part of a property subject to an annual rent or mortgage payment of exactly £51,000 or above, it will receive £1500
• Local authorities will also receive an additional 5% top up amount of business support funding to enable them to help other businesses affected by closures which may not be on the business rates list. Payments made to businesses from this discretionary fund can be any amount up to £1500 and may be less than £1000 in some cases.
• Local authorities will be responsible for distributing the grants to businesses in circumstances where they are closed due to local interventions
• further eligibility criteria may be determined by Local authorities
• as with other COVID-19 business grants, local grants to closed businesses will be treated as taxable income

Making a claim

Contact your Local authority to see if you are eligible. And please note, the eligibility of businesses not on the business rates list will likely be discretionary so an early call to clarify your position may be beneficial.