The Government has provided some Local Authorities within the region with a fixed amount of funding in the form of an Additional Restrictions Grant (“ARG”) to enable them to continue to support businesses through the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each of the Local Authorities below have different eligibility criteria and application periods which we have set out below:
Cheshire West and Chester Council
The ARG will be distributed under the Extended Restrictions Grant and be administered by Cheshire West and Chester Council.
Who is eligible?
To qualify, businesses will need to fall into one of the following categories:
- Businesses that have had to close for a period of more than three consecutive days or three occasions over a four-week period as a result of staff needing to self-isolate up to a maximum of 10 days
- Businesses that were impacted by the extended period of restrictions during July 2021
- Businesses that continue to be significantly financially impacted by the continued impact of pandemic restrictions and that fall outside the above two categories.
Businesses must be located within the Cheshire West and Chester Council boundary and have been trading on 12 April 2021 and still be trading.
Who cannot apply:
Businesses that are excluded from the grant include those that:
- Are in administration, insolvent or have been issued with a striking-off notice
- Have already received grant payments that equal the maximum permitted levels of subsidy.
How much could my business receive?
A one off lump sum payment will be awarded to eligible businesses based on the business’s rateable value being:
- Up to £1,500* for rateable values of £15,000 and under
- Up to £3,000* for rateable values over £15,000 but under £51,000
- Up to £5,000* for rateable values of £51,000 and over.
Where a business meets the criteria but does not have a rateable value, a one off lump sum payment of up to £1,500* will be paid.
For businesses that closed due to staff self-isolating, eligible businesses will receive up to £200 per day they were closed up to a maximum of £2,000 irrespective of their rateable value. Evidence of closure will be required.
*The above amounts may reduce if demand is high.
How to apply:
Applications must be made online here and open on 4 October closing at midnight on Monday 1 November. However, please note that applications may close earlier if the fund is fully committed by that date.
Successful applicants will be notified by email by 30 November 2021.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
The Liverpool City Region’s ARG will be distributed under the “Trading On Scheme”, and will be administered by each of the six local authorities within the Combined Authority, i.e. Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.
Who is eligible?
To qualify for support, businesses/charities must meet all of the following criteria:
- Be able to accept the grant under Subsidy Control/State Aid rules
- Be viable and trading on or before 1 April 2021
- Employ between 10 and 249 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs)
- Be based and have commercial property-related costs in the Liverpool City Region and be able to evidence 2021 annual rental costs and annual business rates (where applicable)
- Must demonstrate the business has been severely impacted as a result of COVID-19.
Who cannot apply:
Businesses/charities that are excluded from the scheme are those that:
- Have received grant payments that, with any grant funding to be awarded under this scheme, will exceed the maximum permitted levels of Subsidy Control
- Employ fewer than 10 and more than 249 FTEs
- Cannot evidence loss via an accountant’s letter (a template of which can be found on the Local Authority websites below)
- Are based in residential property
- Are mobile businesses without commercial property-related costs
- Are advertising and billboard properties
- Are organisations predominantly funded by the public sector
- Are places of worship
- Are dissolved or about to be dissolved
- Are insolvent or that had insolvency action instigated against them
- Are dormant.
How much could my business receive?
The amount of the grant awarded will be determined by the following factors:
- The total number of applications that each Local Authority receives
- The number of FTE’s working for the business in the Liverpool City Region
- The loss of income caused by COVID-19
- The total value of a businesses fixed annual commercial property costs in the Liverpool City Region.
Whilst the grant value that an eligible business may receive depends on the number of applications, it is expected that the minimum grant level will be around £5,000 and the maximum will be £50,000.
How to apply:
Applications must be made online and open at 10am on Monday 25 October, closing at 5pm on Friday 12 November 2021. Please visit your relevant Local Authority website via the links below:
Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral
Successful applicants will be notified by email with funds being paid out by 31 March 2022.
Manchester City Council
The ARG will be distributed under an Emergency Business Support Grant and be administered by Manchester City Council.
Who is eligible?
To qualify, for support businesses must:
- Employ over 5 staff
- Provide well paid and secure work, with good terms and conditions
- Have been operating in Manchester prior to 11 March 2020
- Demonstrate at least 30% financial losses during the COVID-19 pandemic from 1 April 2020 to the date of application
- Demonstrate that the failure of the business would lead to the loss of good quality jobs.
How to apply:
Applications must be made online here and are open from 18 October until 31 October 2021. Applicants will be contacted with a decision once all applications have been considered.
Please note that available funding is limited and only those business seen as most in need will qualify for support under this scheme.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns then you should not hesitate to get in touch.
Written 21 October 2021.
