
Last night the Prime Minister addressed the nation, announcing a national lockdown, as he asked the British public to once again: stay at home, control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.
Alongside this, the Chancellor has announced new financial support schemes that will available for businesses.
Retail, hospitality and leisure business premises forced to close can claim a new one-off grant of up to £9,000.
The one-off additional grant each business premises will receive depends on their rateable value:
o Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or above: £9,000
o Businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000: £6,000
o Businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below: £4,000
• This one-off grant is in addition to the existing monthly closed grants of up to £3,000 per month that businesses continue to be eligible for. These grants are worth over a £1 billion in total per month.
• We expect over 600,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business premises in England to benefit from these grants.
• Businesses can receive multiple grants, as they are eligible on a per premises basis.
• Local authorities will receive the funding for these one-off grants next week, and we encourage them to make payments to businesses as soon as possible.
Additional discretionary funding for local authorities to support their local businesses
• Local Authorities (in England) will also be given an additional £500 million of discretionary funding to support their local businesses.
• This builds on (and will be allocated in the same way as) the £1.1 billion discretionary funding (worth £20 per head of population) which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted.
More information can be found at gov.uk and details of how to apply for funding will be found at local authority websites as below:
• Breckland Council: https://www.breckland.gov.uk/coronavirus
• King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council: https://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/coronavirus
We must continue to do all we can to protect each other and our NHS. Please do get in touch if you need any assistance.