'The Council is already providing vital grant support to businesses affected by the tier restrictions and the latest national lockdown which came into force on January 5, 2021.
We’ve already paid grants to pubs that don’t sell food and rely on just drink sales and we’ve also been able to pay around 7,500 businesses who were closed when Cornwall was placed in Tier 3 (31 December – 04 January).
Another 11,500 businesses forced to close in the latest lockdown from 05 January 2021 will receive payments next week. These are businesses who received Local Restriction Support Grants in November and will now automatically be paid the latest Local Restriction Support Grants and one off Closed Business Lockdown Payments (one off grants of £4,000, £6,000 and £9,000).
New discretionary grant scheme
We received confirmation yesterday of funding from Government for new discretionary grants. The Additional Restrictions Grant scheme will see up to £11.5 million available for businesses in Cornwall who are not eligible for other forms of financial support but have been forced to close or are severely impacted during the third coronavirus lockdown from 05 January 2021.
Our policy for this Additional Restrictions Grant scheme and the application form on who will be eligible is being put in place and the application form and full details of the policy will be available on the Council’s website
www.cornwall.gov.uk/businesssupportgrant on Wednesday 20 January 2021.
As before our priority is to help businesses who have not been able to claim other grants or funds. This includes those who are excluded from the self-employed income support scheme. This could be due to them being set-up as a limited company and/or being a new business.
Applications will also be encouraged from a range of businesses such as food and drink producers and distributors, who, while not forced to close, have been severely affected because they supply goods and services to the hospitality, retail and leisure sector which are closed.
We’ll also be seeking to support businesses in the event sector such as caterers or event venues and other businesses that supply goods or services to parts of the economy that have been shut down.
Businesses with a rateable value of more than £51,000 who did not apply for the Additional Restrictions Grant in November may also be eligible to apply this time around.
We’re particularly pleased we were able to make grants of £25,000 to larger pubs, hotels and hospitality. This new discretionary grant will
remain available for others in a similar situation who have not yet had a chance to apply. These places employ many people and buy goods and services from many businesses in Cornwall and we want to help them survive this crisis.
The other instances of where businesses will need to apply (apart from the ARG scheme) are
· Businesses which pay business rates, have been forced to close, but did not apply for the Local Restrictions Support Grants in November 2020, will need to apply for this latest round of Local Restrictions Support Grants and the one off Closed Business Lockdown Payment (one off grants £4k-£9K)
· Business rated businesses which were not required to close, but have been severely impacted by the change in tier restrictions on December 26 when Cornwall entered Tier 2 and December 31 when Cornwall entered Tier 3 (December 26 to December 30 and December 31 to January 4).
The application forms for these grants will be posted on the website as soon as possible.
