GRANTS APPROVED AS BUSINESS SUPPORT SCHEME IS WIDENED

More than 20 local businesses have already benefited from a new fund designed to support traders which missed out on the first tranche of the government’s COVID-19 financial support programme.

Folkestone & Hythe District Council (F&HDC) has so far approved 22 applications totalling £185,000 through the discretionary business scheme since the start of the month, with a further £1m of the funding yet to be allocated.

A further 50 grant applications have been received to date and are currently being assessed.

Cllr David Monk, F&HDC Leader, said: “We have already received a lot of positive feedback from applicants as they acknowledge we are doing our level best to support small businesses significantly impacted by the ongoing situation.”

The fund has now been widened to include additional types of businesses, as well as those who have already received a grant from the self-employment income support scheme. The full list is now as follows:

• Businesses in shared workspaces (such as business centres and incubators) that would have received a Small Business Grant or Retail Hospitality & Leisure Grant if they were individual business rate payers

• Bed & Breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rates

• Holiday lets where the owner is a resident of the Folkestone & Hythe district. Where an owner has more than one property, a maximum of one grant is payable per resident

• Regular market traders with fixed building costs – such as rent – who do not have their own business rates assessment and have a business address in the district

• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief

• Creative businesses* based in residential or business premises with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000

• Retail, leisure and hospitality businesses that are ineligible for the small business or retail hospitality & leisure grant schemes because they were not included in the business rates register on 11 March 2020. Garages and MOT repair workshops are included in this sector. It also includes businesses in this sector which are home-based and pay council tax rather than business rates

• Consideration will also be given on an individual case-by-case basis to small and micro-businesses operating in business premise with a rateable value greater than £51,000

Grants of £25,000, £10,000 and £5,000 are available. A full list of the qualifying criteria can be found on the Folkestone & Hythe District Council website.

The deadline for applications remains 9am on Monday 22 June, although this is subject to change if demand outweighs the funds available.

For more information and to apply, visit folkestone-hythe.gov.uk/business-grant-scheme