What cash grants are available to support businesses during the Cornonavirus crisis?
An index with links and summaries.
What's New? 2022-23
- 26 April 2022: update for the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme
| Funding to pay employee wages. | |
| Grant funding for the self-employed. | |
| Test and Trace Payments | £500 payment for those on low income who are forced to self-isolate. Scheme ended on 24 February 2022. |
| Restart Grant Scheme |
Local council grants for businesses in the non-essential retail sector to support reopening as restrictions are lifted.
|
| For businesses in England that are required to shut because of local interventions. Replaced by domestic subsidy allowances in March 2021. | |
| Funding for businesses eligible for Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and Rural Rates Relief (RRR). | |
| Businesses in England in receipt of the rates Expanded Retail Discount with a rateable value of less than £51,000. | |
| Of £25,000, £10,000 or any amount under £10,000 for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes. Closed June 2020. See Local Restrictions Support Grant for November 2020 +. | |
| For new six-month job placements for 16-24 year-olds. Closed to new applications on 17 December 2021. | |
| Financial assistance for England’s fishing and aquaculture | |
| Launched on 29 April 2020 and closed on 11 May 2020 | |
| An animal welfare grant of up to £100,000 for your zoo or aquarium. Closed June 2021. | |
| Farmers who have lost more than 25% of their income. Closed September 2020. | |
| For UK film and TV productions struggling to get insurance for COVID-related costs and help productions back up and running. |
Grants for the rest of the UK
Wales:
- Welsh Government Business Grants (Grants 1 & 2)
- Economic Resilience Fund
Scotland:
- Business Support Fund
- Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund
- Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund
- Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund
- Aquaculture Hardship Fund
- Sea Fisheries Hardship Fund
Northern Ireland:
- Small Business Support Grant Scheme
- Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Grant
Restart Grant Scheme
- The Restart Grant Scheme supports businesses in reopening safely as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Grants are available from 1 April 2021.
- Eligible businesses in the non-essential retail sector may be entitled to a one-off cash grant of up to £6,000 from their local council.
- Those businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors may be entitled to a one-off cash grant of up to £18,000 from their local council.
See Restart Grant Scheme opened
Local Restrictions Support Grant
As updated 4 March 2021:
- The grants in this format ended in March 2021 and were replaced by a new domestic subsidy allowance made up of 3 subsidy allowances:
- Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance: you’re allowed up to £335,000 over any period of 3 years.
- COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance:you’re allowed up to £1,600,000.
- COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance : if you have reached your limits under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance and COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance, you may be able to access further funding under these scheme rules of up to £9,000,000, provided certain conditions are met.
As updated on January 2021:
- New grants announced for closures due to the new national lockdown, based on the rateable value of business property:
| Grant | Rateable Value |
| £4,000 | Up to £15,000 |
| £6,000 | £15,001 - £51,000 |
| £9,000 | Over £51,000 |
As updated on 29 October 2020:
- For properties with a rateable value of less than £51,000 grants of £1,000 for each three week period that the business is closed.
- For properties with a rateable value over £51,000, grants of £1,500 for each three week period that the business is closed.
-
The grant will be extended to cover each additional 3-week period, so if your business is closed for 6 weeks it will receive £2,000 or £3,000, depending on the rateable value of the property.
- If the business does not pay rates, a grant of £1,500 may be payable at the discretion of your local council.
See Local Restrictions Support Grant
Small Business Grant Fund, Rural Rates Relief and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant
|
Grant |
Eligibility criteria |
| £10,000 | Any business eligible for Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and Rural Rates Relief (RRR) |
| £10,000 | A retail, hospitality and leisure business with a rateable value of up to £15,000 |
| £25,000 | A retail, hospitality and leisure business rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000 |
| £ nil | Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme |
Hereditaments (premises) included in this scheme are those which on the 11 March 2020 were eligible for relief under the business rate Small Business Rate Relief Scheme (including those with a Rateable Value between £12,000 and £15,000 which receive tapered relief) or are eligible to the Expanded Retail Discount and have a rateable value of less than £51,000.
Excluded properties
- Hereditaments occupied for personal uses. Examples of where there may be personal use include private stables and loose boxes, beach huts and moorings.
- Car parks and parking spaces.
- Businesses which as of the 11 March were in liquation or were dissolved.
- Hereditaments with a rateable value of over £51,000.
Only one grant may be awarded per hereditament.
See: Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund Guidance
Discretionary Grant Fund 2 : January 2021
There will be a new £594 million Discretionary Grant Fund available for those businesses who are not eligble for the latest LRSG funding. Details are yet to be published.
Discretionary Grant Fund 1: March to June 2020
A Discretionary Grant Fund for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes.
A grant of £25,000, £10,000 or any amount under £10,000.
A business is potentially eligible if it:
- is based in England
- has fewer than 50 employees
- has fixed building costs such as rent
- was trading on 11 March 2020
- has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus
- are not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.
Priority applications are given to:
- Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces, such as units in industrial parks or incubators
- Regular market traders
- Bed and breakfasts paying council tax instead of business rates
- Charity properties getting charitable business rates relief, which are not eligible for small business rates relief or rural rate relief.
You cannot apply if:
- Your business is in administration, insolvent or has received a striking-off notice.
- If you’re already claiming under another government grant scheme, although you may also claim for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
How to apply
Go to your local council’s website to find out how to apply. Applications close at 9am on 15 June 2020.
- £10 million financial assistance for England’s fishing and aquaculture businesses in response to Covid-19 was announced on 17 April 2020. See Fisheries Response Fund
- A further announcement on 2 June 2020 is that qualifying businesses will receive a further and final payment under the Fisheries Response Fund.
See Fisheries Response Fund further payment for eligible business.
Domestic Seafood Supply Fund (DSSS)
- This was launched on 29 April 2020 and closed on 11 May 2020.
See DSSS scheme
An animal welfare grant of up to £100,000 for your zoo or aquarium affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).
You could apply to the Zoos Support Fund if your zoo or aquarium is based in England and either:
- holds a licence (full or dispensation) under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981
- has been granted an exemption under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 and holds a licence under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018
- The scheme ended on 30 June 2021.
See Support for Zoos and Aquariums
- Farmers who lost more than 25% of their income were able to claim up to £10,000
- Eligible farmers will be able to claim for 70% of their losses based on volumes delivered in April and May 2020.
- The scheme ended in September 2020.
See Defra: New funding to support dairy farmers
Film & TV Production Restart Scheme
The scheme provides £500 million for UK film and TV productions struggling to get insurance for COVID-related costs and help productions back up and running.
Note: The formal commencement of the scheme was conditional upon the European Commission providing State Aid approval which has not been received.
Registration deadline: 30 April 2022. Claims will be able to be submitted up to 30 September 2022 for losses incurred up until 23:59 GMT on 30 June 2022.
Applications can now be made via the appointed Third Party Administrator, Marsh Commercial.
See HM Treasury: Film & TV Production Restart Scheme - Scheme Rules
See HM Treasury: Film & TV Production Restart Scheme - Explanatory Notes
Kickstart Scheme
The government’s ‘Kickstart’ job creation scheme aimed to help young unemployed people. It closed on 17 December 2021.
Kickstart was announced by the Chancellor in his summer economic update.
The scheme could be used to create new six-month job placements for 16-24 year-olds currently on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.
See Kickstart Scheme
FAQs
Are these grants taxable?
- The government have confirmed that these grants will be taxable as income. The business can then claim tax relief on the expenditure supported by the grant.
- Finance Act 2020 includes measures to tax the grants available, recover payments from businesses not entitled to them and penalise deliberate non-compliance.
- See COVID-19: Taxation of Coronavirus Support Payments
What are the VAT implications?
HMRC have not provided any guidance as to whether the grants will be subject to VAT or count towards turnover for VAT registration limits. Normal principles are expected to apply meaning:
- The grants would be outside the scope of VAT and no output VAT should have to be accounted for.
- The grant income should be disregarded for VAT registration and deregistration limits.
What about state aid rules?
UK Government grants counts towards state aid.
- Payments of £10,000 or less count towards the total de minimis state aid limit over a 3 year period of €200,000.
- If you have reached that threshold, you may still be eligible for funding under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework.
- Payments of £25,000 count as state aid under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework. The limit for the framework is €800,000.
Fraud
Anti-fraud: any business caught falsifying their records to gain additional grant money will face prosecution and any funding issued will be subject to clawback.
External links
Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund Guidance
