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COVID-19 Business Support

A full range of business support measures have been made available to UK businesses and employees by the Government in response to the Covid-19 epidemic.

On 17th March, the Chancellor announced unprecedented support for business and workers to support the economy and businesses large and small. The package of government-backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses, making available an initial £330bn of guarantees.

That support will be delivered through two main schemes:

The Chancellor also announces tax cuts of nearly £20bn for British businesses. The package of measures to support businesses include:

  1. A Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
  2. Deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
  3. A Statutory Sick Pay relief package for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs)
  4. A 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
  5. Small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
  6. Grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
  7. The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank
  8. A new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans
  9. The HMRC Time To Pay Scheme
  10. The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

A detailed guide to the various business support that is available can be accessed here 

Small Business Grant Fund / Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Grant Fund

The Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) supports small and rural businesses in England with their business costs during coronavirus. The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) supports businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with their business costs during coronavirus.

The SBGF supports small businesses with a rateable value of up to £15,000 who occupied their business premises on 11th March 2020. These business are eligible for a grant of £10,000.

The RHLG supports retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. Those businesses occupying business premises with a rateable value of up to and including £15,000 on 11 March 2020 will be eligible for a grant of £10,000. Those businesses occupying business premises with a rateable value of over £15,000 and less that £51,000 on 11 March 2020 will be eligible for a grant of £25,000.

Further information including the full eligibility criteria and an application form visit www.hartlepool.gov.uk/smallbusinessgrant
 
Discretionary Grant Fund

The Discretionary Grant Fund offers help with fixed property-related costs and follows on from two previous Government business support initiatives, the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF).  It is aimed at small businesses and charities with less than 50 employees which did not qualify for support under the previous government initiatives and which have experienced a substantial loss of income as a result of COVID-19.

The maximum potential grant is £10,000 and the closing date for applications is 9am on Monday 15th June. Applications received after this time and date will only be considered if sufficient funds remain. Grants will be paid from Wednesday June 17th onwards.

Further information including the full eligibility criteria and an application form visit https://hartlepool-self.achieveservice.com/service/Local_Authority_Business_Grant

Further details of the Government support measures can be viewed at https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/

For all enquiries on how your business is impacted and what support is available please contact the Business Support Team at Hartlepool Council on (01429) 867677 or email business.support@hartlepool.gov.uk.