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<p>The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund
have helped many thousands of small businesses, which as of 4<sup>th</sup> May had
received over £8.6 billion worth of grants. However, we are aware that many small
businesses which are facing high fixed costs are finding themselves excluded from
these grants schemes because the way they interact with the current business rates
system means they are not eligible for the grants schemes.</p><p> </p><p>On Friday
1 May, the Government announced that it would be making up to £617m of additional
funding available to Local Authorities to enable them to make payments of up to £25,000
to businesses in these situations.</p><p> </p><p>The discretionary funds will be administered
by Local Authorities, who will ask businesses to apply for a grant. Local Authorities
will receive guidance regarding which kinds of businesses should be considered a priority
for these funds. It is the Government’s intention that the following businesses should
be considered as a priority for these funds:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Businesses in shared
offices;</li><li>Regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment;</li><li>B&Bs
which pay Council Tax instead of business rates; and</li><li>Charity properties in
receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible
for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Local Authorities
may also choose to pay grants to businesses outside of these areas, according to local
economic need, so long as the grants are aimed at:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Businesses with
ongoing fixed building-related costs</li><li>Businesses which can demonstrate that
they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the Covid-19 crisis</li><li>Business
with fewer than 50 employees</li><li>Businesses that were trading on or before 11<sup>th</sup>
March</li></ul><p> </p><p>Businesses which are not eligible for any of the grants
schemes should be able to benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented
package of support for business, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>An option to defer
VAT payments by up to twelve months;</li><li>The Bounce Back Loan scheme, which will
ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which
are 100% guaranteed by the Government;</li><li>The Coronavirus Business Interruption
Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able
to access commercial credit;</li><li>The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support
businesses with their wage bills.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p>
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