The Business Secretary announced at 5pm on 1st April 2020 that the funding for these grants, a total of £12billion, had been released to local councils for distribution to eligible local businesses.

It is possible that if you have dedicated business premises with a rateable value of less than £15,000 and/or you receive small business rate relief that you may qualify for a Small Business Support Grant the grant value is £10,000.

Eligibility criteria is to the ratepayer on a business-rated premises on the 11^th March 2020 and on that date the ratepayer was eligible for relief under the business rate Small Business Rate Relief Scheme or the ratepayer on a business-rated premises on the 11^th March 2020 and on that date the ratepayer was eligible for relief under the Rural Rate Relief Scheme.

Check your most recent rate bill to see if you are in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rate Relief (RRR).

Properties not eligible for this relief are; Business rated properties occupied for personal uses, Businesses which as of 11^th March were in liquidation or were dissolved.

Initially the government had reported that local councils would be in touch with eligible local businesses themselves. However, this no longer appears to be the case and many councils are asking local businesses to apply for the grant by completing an online form on their local authority website. The main reason for this is because the local councils do not have the bank account details of many local businesses to be able to pay the grant into. This is particularly true of businesses who receive 100% small business rate relief and those businesses who do not pay their business rates via direct debit.

Therefore, we are encouraging all our customers with eligible businesses to check their local authority website and fill in an online application form if they qualify and wish to.