Coronavirus: grants now available to small businesses and retail / leisure businesses
Shropshire’s small businesses, and businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, can apply for Government funding through the coronavirus COVID-19 Small Business Grant Fund, and Retail Hospitality & Leisure Grant Fund.
Funding was provided by the Government to Shropshire Council on Wednesday 1 April 2020 to pass directly onto businesses through these schemes. This is a huge boost for businesses in the county, and a huge undertaking for the council. £91m was received on 1 April, and it is estimated that over 7,000 businesses can access this money, providing they meet the criteria set by the Government. Applications can be made now via the council website – https://shropshire.gov.uk/covid-19-grants
Coronavirus: Business advice and support
Peter Nutting, Leader of Shropshire Council, said:
“This funding is very welcome and will be vital to our many small businesses in these difficult times.
“We estimate that over 7,000 businesses in Shropshire will qualify for one of the grants, so this is going to take a bit of time to get through. We’ve never had to do anything like this before, or on this scale, but we can assure businesses that we will be working as fast as we possibly can.
“Where we hold their details, we have emailed businesses and sent out letters. We ask businesses to bear with us, as we try to get an unprecedented amount of funding out to businesses as quickly as we can.
“While speed is of the essence, we also need to ensure that the right amount of money is paid to the correct businesses, so we’re trying to get the balance right.”
Under the Small Business Grant Fund, all businesses in England in receipt of either Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief in the business rates system will be eligible for a payment of £10,000, providing they meet the eligibility rules.
To be included, a business must be eligible for either relief as at 11 March 2020 and have a rateable value of £15,000 or less.
Under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant, eligible businesses in England in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be eligible for cash grants of £10,000 or £25,000 per property.
Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of up to and including £15,000 will receive a grant of £10,000.
Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive a grant of £25,000.
Businesses that don’t pay into the business rates system are not included in this scheme, and there are some other exceptions.
Please visit the Shropshire Council website for full details and to apply.
Further information
Keep informed and sign up to our daily Coronavirus email updates
Shropshire Council wants to keep you as up to date and informed as possible. To help us do this, we have developed a coronavirus update, that will be sent daily at 8pm via email to anyone who has signed up to our e-bulletins.
This update includes the day’s key Shropshire Council news relating to coronavirus-linked issues. Please click here to sign up for the updates.
Please do encourage your family and friends to sign up to the updates too. This will help us keep everyone up to date with the rapidly-evolving crisis.
Please also see the council’s coronavirus webpages at shropshire.gov.uk/coronavirus.
