City council launches help package for businesses closed by government order

Joe Anderson

Liverpool City Council has today (March 31) launched an online form for the city’s businesses to apply for a Covid-19 support grant.

The grant support scheme is split across two categories and is aimed mainly at supporting those businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector which were forced to close by the UK Government.

Liverpool City Council is set to distribute more than £100m from the scheme and estimates that 9,000 businesses could benefit.

All businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below will be eligible to apply for a £10,000 grant.

To qualify they must have been receiving Small Business Rates Relief and need to provide a bank statement form the past three months.

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will qualify for help under the Government’s Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund; small businesses in other sectors will receive help under the Government’s Small Business Grant.

For businesses with a rateable value of between £15,000.01 and less than £51,000, they may qualify for a £25,000 grant. The expanded retail discount – the 100% reduction to your business rates for 2020/21 – must also apply.

Qualifying businesses include:

  • shops
  • cafes, restaurants, take-aways and drinking establishments
  • cinemas, music venues and nightclubs
  • petrol stations
  • gyms, leisure and sports facilities
  • estate agents and letting agents
  • betting shops and bingo halls
  • car show rooms
  • hotels and guest houses

If a business has multiple premises, they are advised that they must submit an application for each one.

The application must be completed by the business ratepayer. If the ratepayer is a company or partnership, it should be completed by a company director or one of the partners in the firm.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “This grant support scheme will be welcome news for many small businesses across the city. I would urge any that qualify to fill in our new online form as soon as possible.

“We are working very hard behind the scenes to ensure businesses do not go under due to rent arrears, utility bills and business loans and I’m writing to the Governor of the Bank of England to seek further assurances on the level of banking support businesses can receive.

“All businesses in Liverpool contribute massively to our city’s growth and our retail and hospitality sector is a huge economic engine worth more than £3bn to the city, employing more than 37,000 people.

“We know these are very difficult times with many people facing a very uncertain future.

“As a city council we will do all we can to support our business community and where we see any discrepancies or shortfalls we will call them out.”

Click here to access the online form.

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