Great Yarmouth Borough Council invites businesses to apply for further Covid support grants

This latest phase of the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) is aimed at eligible businesses which have not received one of the Local Restrictions Support Grants that were available from January 5. The scheme is looking to provide additional support to hospitality and leisure businesses, as well as those in their supply chain, that have been affected by the lockdown restrictions.

Businesses must have been actively trading before November 4, 2020. Applications to this phase of the ARG are open until midnight on February 15, 2021. Businesses may use evidence from their applications to previous phases of the ARG to support their application.

One-off payments are available under this scheme in four categories:

• Grants of £4,000 are available to businesses required to close by law due to lockdown and are not business-rated, but have building-related costs. This could include some non-essential retailers, concessions, personal care providers and sports facilities/providers.
• A top-up grant of either £2,000 or £4,000 is available to eligible business-rated properties in the hospitality sector and non-business-rated businesses in the hospitality sector which are eligible for the above payment.
• Grants of £2,000 or £4,000 are on offer to eligible businesses that may have been allowed to stay open but have been affected because they are suppliers to the hospitality sector and can show they have been financially impacted by lockdown.
• Home-based businesses which are not in receipt of HMRC SEISS or furlough payments, that can evidence business related costs, and have been impacted by the lockdown, can apply for a grant of £2,000.

Cllr Carl Smith, the council leader, said: "Since the start of the pandemic, the council has already handed out £42.6m in Government support grants to help our local businesses. This further grant programme allows us to support a wider range of businesses that have been, and continue to be, affected by the ongoing national lockdown restrictions.

"Information and support about the programme, eligibility criteria and further business advice is available on our website."

For business who think they may be eligible for the next stage of the ARG, the criteria and application form can be found at www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/coronavirus-advice-businesses.