Covid 19 - What you need to know - Increase to local authority discretionary fund

In a joint ministerial letter, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma (Minister for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy), announced that the Government is providing local authorities with additional funding to target small businesses with high fixed property-related costs but are not eligible for the current grant schemes.

An additional £617 million (a 5% uplift to the £12.33 Billion funding previously announced for the “Small Business Grants Fund” and the “Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund”) is now available to local authorities. This fund is open to businesses which were not eligible under the previous scheme (those with a NDRV of less than £51k). Persons who may access grants under the Self-employed Income Support Scheme are ineligible.

The Government are asking local authorities to prioritise the following types of business for grants from within this funding pot:

1. Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible work spaces e.g. industrial parks, science parks, incubators etc, which do not have their own business rates assessment
2. Regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment;
3. B&Bs which pay Council Tax instead of business rates; and
4. Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Local Authorities are encourages to determine for themselves whether particular situations not listed are broadly similar in nature to those above and, if so, whether they should be eligible for granted from this discretionary fund.

National criteria for the funds, which must apply are:

Businesses with ongoing fixed building related costs.

1. Businesses which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the Covid-19 crisis.
2. Business with fewer than 50 employees.
3. Business that were trading on or before 11th March.

Grants are caped to £25,000.

Local Authorities will be provided with further guidance from the Government on this new approach.