Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the small business grant to all active businesses not eligible for business rate relief.
The Small Business Grant Fund is designed to give additional financial support to those small businesses which are likely to face high fixed building-related costs, such as rent.
However, we are aware that many small businesses which are facing high fixed costs are finding themselves excluded from the existing grants schemes because of the way they interact with the current business rates system. Government has provided up to an additional £617m for Local Authorities in England to enable them to make grants payments to businesses in these circumstances. This funding will be used by Local Authorities to create a Discretionary Grants Fund.
Local Authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for these funds. However, it is our intention that the following businesses should be considered as a priority for these funds:
Recipient businesses will also have to meet the following criteria:
Businesses will need to apply to their Local Authority in order to receive grants. Each Local Authority will need to create their own process, which may take some time. We encourage businesses to look out for their Local Authority’s version of this scheme, and to contact their Local Authority for more information in due course.
Small businesses which are not eligible for business grants should still be able to benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including: