Calderdale businesses offered more support after Government announcement

The Government has announced one-off top up grants worth up to £9,000 per property, for businesses which have had to close due to restrictions. The new grants will be awarded to eligible closed businesses as follows:

£4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under

£6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000

£9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000

Business can check if they’re eligible at here.An additional discretionary fund to support other impacted businesses has also been announced, but the Council is waiting for detailed guidance on this scheme from Government.

Calderdale Council said it is working to set up the process for paying these grants as soon as possible.

It’s likely that these one-off payments will be made to businesses using the details supplied for the existing Local Restrictions Support Grants and the Additional Restrictions Grant.

Businesses which are yet to apply for these are therefore encouraged to do so as soon as possible.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategy, Councillor Jane Scullion, said: “The latest lockdown announcement will have come as another major blow to many local businesses, so I’m pleased that further grant support has been announced. We’re working through the process for making these new grants available and will update businesses as soon as we can.

“We want all eligible businesses to get the support to which they’re entitled. If any business is yet to apply for the existing Local Restrictions Support Grants (Open and Closed) and the Additional Restrictions Grant, I encourage them to do so as soon as possible, so we have their details for other potential payments.

“Teams are working hard to process applications and payments as soon as possible, but we really need to receive any outstanding applications before the end of January to ensure payments can be made before the Government’s deadline of March.”

The Council has already paid out over £2 million to over 1000 Calderdale businesses which have applied for the Local Restriction Grants and the Additional Restriction Grants.

This is in addition to the £62 million previously paid out to 5,500 businesses across Calderdale during the pandemic.

To process applications before the Government deadline, all businesses should apply for the existing grants by the end of January 2021.

Existing applicants don’t need to reapply; repeat payments will be processed automatically when the applicant responds to an email from the Council, which will be sent out over the next week.

One-off £1,000 grants are also being paid to 'wet-led’ pubs (those whose trade is predominantly based on drinks rather than food) which have been severely impacted over the festive season due to temporary local restrictions. Payments will be made automatically to these businesses.