What support is there?
The Government has launched an online tool to help businesses find Coronavirus financial support. You may be eligible for loans, tax relief and cash grants; this support finder will help you to see what support is available for you and your business.
Also see:
Coronavirus (COVID-19): what to do if you’re employed and cannot work
Listed below is the main support available to businesses in Wealden:
The Government has confirmed additional COVID19 emergency funding to Wealden District Council for a Local Restriction Support Grants programme. The funding is aimed at supporting any business which has been subjected to lockdown closures and who has a rateable property.
- View the government guidelines
- View the WDC Local Restrictions Grant Policy document
- View the guidelines of those businesses subject to closure as clarified in the legislation, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 (see attachment UKSI), specifically schedules 1,2 & 3.
Summary of eligibility criteria
Businesses should carefully check before applying they meet the eligibility criteria. All applications will be assessed in accordance with the evaluation criteria below:
- Businesses are only eligible if subject to national lockdown restrictions (closed) imposed by the Government from the 5 November 2020.
- An applicant can apply despite receiving other grants although this may be considered in any award decision.
- An applicant must be a liable for business rates as listed with the Valuation Office Agency and listed for occupied rates in the Wealden District.
- An applicant must be a business trading successfully on and before 5 November 2020
- Businesses in administration or which are insolvent are not eligible to apply, neither are businesses where a “striking off” notice has been made.
- Businesses must provide relevant documentary evidence to support their application, as set out in the online form.
- Any grant award is subject to due diligence checks, including State Aid compliance.
Timings and process for awarding grants
- Wealden District Council Business Rates team will check applications for eligibility and carry out due diligence checks.
- The Council will email them the outcome.
- Subject to the above, Wealden’s Finance team will then process grant payments to successful applicants
- The Council will process payments to successful applicants as quickly as possible.
For any enquiries please email the localtax@wealden.gov.uk, quoting either your property reference or account reference.
Grant Payment Levels and Criteria
As per the National Restrictions Support Guidance for Closed businesses, Wealden District Council will make payment to eligible business based on their Rateable Value as at 4 November 2020.
Category | Maximum Amount per month | Two weeks |
Rateable Value up to £15,000 | £1,334 | £667 |
Rateable Value between £15,001 and £51,000 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
Rateable Value over £51,000 and exceptional circumstances | £3,000 | £1,500 |
Please note:
- Only businesses that are required to close due to the national lockdown will be able to apply for this grant scheme.
- If the business is continuing to run a click and collect service you are still able to apply for the grant.
- There is no upper limit to the rateable value on this grant
Please put as much information as you can in your online application.
Please note that this payment is for the initial lockdown of 4 weeks. If the national lockdown is extended and the scheme is extended you will be able to apply for further payments.
The Additional Restrictions Grant is a discretionary grant scheme and has been developed to provide additional support to businesses that have been forced to close or are severely affected during the current national lockdown.
The funding is limited and aimed at businesses who were not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant.
If a business is required to close and has no Non-domestic rating assessment and falls within one of the following categories, then an award will be granted:
- Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces. Examples could include units in industrial parks, science parks and incubators which do not have their own business rates assessment
- Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of Business Rates
- Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment
- Home based ‘in person’ businesses where services are wholly or mainly provided ‘in person’ and cannot be provided remotely
- Arts and entertainment organisations or businesses such as amateur dramatic groups or local theatres
- Agricultural businesses that wholly provide the science or practise of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool and other products
In addition to the businesses above, businesses that fall under the Food, Beverage, Event, Hospitality and Leisure supply chain and have not been forced to close will also be eligible for a grant payment.
In all cases the business must have been trading with effect 4th November 2020 – you must provide proof of this. Proof can include, till transactions for the 4th, booking diary etc.
The amount of grant that will be awarded has been decided as follows:
Business type | Grant (5th November 2020 to 2nd December 2020)
Bed & Breakfast – £1,334
Supply chain – Food, Beverage, Event, Hospitality and Leisure:
- For businesses with a rateable value of under £15k – £1,334
- For business with a rateable value of more than £15k and less than £51k – £2,000
- For businesses with a rateable value of £51k or more – £3,000
Market Traders – £667
Shared spaces – £1,334
Agriculture – £1,334
Homebased business – £800
Arts and entertainment – £1,334
The scheme is being extended from 1 November 2020.
Find out if you’re eligible and how much you can get.
Those eligible to apply will be contacted directly by HMRC. Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.
If you are ill or have a health condition or disability that limits your ability to work you may be able to get New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Small business owners can now apply to accredited lenders by filling out a simple online form. Businesses will be able to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000, with the cash arriving within days. An affordable flat rate of 2.5% interest will be charged on these loans.
The government will provide lenders with a 100% guarantee and cover the cost of any fees and interest for the borrower for the first 12 months. To enable firms to get back on their feet, no repayments will be due during this period.
Applications for Bounce Back Loans are available until 31 January 2021:
Check if you can claim for wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
After a claim has been submitted online it will take six working days for it to be paid – please do not chase up payment with HMRC during this time.
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers with a PAYE scheme will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis. This applies to employees who have been asked to stop working, but who are being kept on the pay roll, otherwise described as ‘furloughed workers’.
5,000 HMRC staff will operate the scheme to reimburse 80% of their wages, up to £2,500 per month. This is to safeguard workers from being made redundant. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will cover the cost of wages backdated to March 1st.
Employees should speak to their employers with any questions, not HMRC. They won’t be able to answer queries from individual employees.
The Job Support Scheme will support businesses across the UK required to close their premises due to coronavirus restrictions. Government will pay two thirds of employees’ salaries to protect jobs over the coming months.
Grants of up to £50,000 are available for projects which respond to urgent needs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) means that the Bank of England will buy short-term debt from larger companies. This will support companies which are fundamentally strong, but have been affected by a short-term funding squeeze. It will also support corporate finance markets overall and ease the supply of credit to all firms.
The scheme will be funded by central bank reserves – in line with other Bank of England market operations. It will operate for at least 12 months, and for as long as steps are needed to relieve cash flow pressures on firms that make a material contribution to the UK economy.
If you are an employer looking to create 29 or fewer job placements for young people, apply for funding as part of the Kickstart Scheme .The Scheme provides funding to create new job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long term unemployment.
Sport England has announced a grants package for the sports sector
The Arts Council has made grant funding available for arts organisations and individual artists
Open4Business can also help local companies source grant funding.
If you run a licensed zoo or aquarium in England and are experiencing severe financial difficulties because of lost revenue, you can apply for a grant of up to £100,000.
How much you get will be based on your animals’ needs. Find out more and apply for Zoos Support Funding until 29 January 2021.