Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether local authorities are permitted to award Additional Restrictions Grant funding to companies that began trading after 5 January 2021.

Yes, Local Authorities are permitted to do this.

All businesses that are trading and meet other eligibility criteria may apply to receive funding under this scheme. There is no starting date from which businesses must have been trading in order to qualify for Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) funding.