Great news for the Bedfordshire Business Community; a discretionary grant scheme was launched today, created to help businesses that that couldn’t apply for the retail, hospitality & leisure and small business grants. There is a 2-week window to apply and Central Bedfordshire Council is urging eligible businesses to complete the form as soon as possible.
Businesses must have been trading on 11 March 2020 and will only be eligible if they meet all of the criteria below:
- a small or micro business, as defined in Section 33 Part 2 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the Companies Act 2006
- a business with relatively high, ongoing, fixed property-related costs
- a business that can demonstrate a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis
- a business which occupies property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000
- This Discretionary Grant Fund will be administered through an application process with a closure date of midday on 22 June 2020. Once the application process has closed, we will then process bulk grant payments to all eligible businesses, and expect to make the payments by the end of June 2020.
Qualifying businesses include:
- Shared spaces
- Regular market traders
- Bed and breakfasts
- Charity properties
- Suppliers of the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors
- Children’s nurseries
[source: centralbedfordshire coronavirus business support grants]
To find out more visit the Central Bedfordshire website here.
If you are part of a different local authority, we would encourage you to visit their website to see what is available.