Nearly £2m for businesses in West Suffolk

A further £1.8m is being made available to West Suffolk businesses who are not eligible for the government’s Restart Grant, with many to receive automatic payments.

Throughout the pandemic West Suffolk Council has been paying out Additional Restrictions Grants to supply chain businesses and those not in the ratings system and so not eligible for the government grant schemes.

The government recently launched the Restart Grant with a one-off payment to help businesses in the ratings system reopen safely.

Now using discretionary funding from the government, West Suffolk Council is launching the ARG Restart Grants to help some of those businesses ineligible for the government scheme but who have fixed business costs. These include market traders, those in shared premises that aren’t the rate payer, and supply chain businesses to retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism.

Businesses in these categories that were allowed to be open on April 1, such as market traders selling essential goods, will also receive a payment based on 70 per cent of the ARG restart grant to businesses that were closed. This is in recognition that although they were allowed to remain open, they have demonstrated that they have been significantly impacted as a result of the national restrictions and consumer behavioural changes.

“As restrictions lift and we move into the recovery phase, the aim of this one-off payment is to help businesses reopen in a Covid secure and safe way,” said Julie Baird, director for Growth at West Suffolk Council.

Businesses in these categories who have previously received the ARG grants will be paid automatically. Those who have not applied for ARG grants before can apply for ARG Restart at www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support/

The deadline for applications is May 3, 2021.

The council is also continuing to make automatic ARG payments to home and mobile businesses covering the period from April 1 until their reopening under the government’s roadmap.

Together, the two grants represent the last of the ARG grants expected to be made available to local businesses.

Meanwhile, the council has already paid out more than £8.5m of the government’s Restart Grant to eligible West Suffolk businesses, since the scheme opened on April 1.

The payments so far have been automatic payments to businesses previously in receipt of the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG).

Any West Suffolk business that hasn’t previously applied for the LRSG scheme can still apply for the Restart Grant.

See www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support/

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2021.