HELP FOR BUSINESSES
As you may be aware, the Government has announced a package of measures following the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
- Retail Discount increased from 50% to 100% for 2020/21, and rateable value threshold removed
- Scope of Retail Discount extended to include all retail, leisure, and hospitality businesses
- £10,000 grant to all businesses eligible for either small business relief or retail discount (rateable value up to £15,000)
- £25,000 grant to all businesses eligible for retail discount (rateable value between £15,000 and but under £51,000)
How to Claim Your Grant Payment
If you are eligible, in order to claim
the grant, please use the following link to access the on-line grant request form:
As the grant payments will be paid by BACS, the on-line form will require your bank details. Please note that we still require the form
to be submitted even if you currently pay rates by direct debit.
This is because we are required to collect the information to carry out post payment assurance checks.
Funds are due to be paid to the council by Government around 1 April 2020. Your request will be reviewed, and payment made as soon as is possible after 1 April 2020.
If you are responsible for multiple business properties, you should make a separate request for each individual property.
In cases where it is clear that the rating list was inaccurate on the 11 March 2020 we may make a decision to withhold the grant and/or award the grant based on who we believe would have been entitled to the grant had the list been accurate.
Please note that the grant is for the ratepayer and the Council may take steps to recover the grant if the recipient was not the ratepayer on the eligible day. The Government will not accept deliberate manipulation and fraud. Any business caught falsifying their records to gain additional grant money will face prosecution and any funding issued will be subject to claw back.
State Aid
As the award of relief and grants could be classed as State Aid, Local Authorities have a duty to consider and comply with European Commission State Aid legislation. Although the United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, under the Withdrawal Agreement, State Aid continues to apply during the transition period.
The EU has increased the de mimimus threshold to €800,000 (over a 3 year period). Therefore, we have awarded relief and grants to businesses up to this threshold. However, if you believe the award for your particular business will exceed this threshold, please contact the council to discuss.