Coronavirus - Summary of support available for businesses with premises

This page was updated on 16 September 2020

Grants for small businesses

At Budget 2020 on the 11^th March the government announced the Small Business Grants Fund & Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund schemes.

Under the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), all businesses with a property that as of 11 March were in receipt of either Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief (RRR) will be eligible for a grant of £10,000.

Under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant (RHLG), all businesses in these sectors who have been eligible for the Expanded Retail Discount will be able to access a cash grant per property, based on its rateable value. Properties with a rateable value below £15k will be eligible for a grant of £10k, whereas businesses whose rateable value is between £15k - £51k will receive a grant of £25k. Businesses with a rateable value exceeding £51,000 will not be eligible for the scheme. Full details of both schemes can be found here.

In order to receive these grants, businesses in Greater Manchester will have to ensure their information is submitted correctly with the Local Authority they are located in. Links for all 10 boroughs can be seen here. 

Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund or also known as Top-up fund   

On 2 May, Government confirmed additional funds up to £617 million will be distributed to local authorities in England.  This top-up is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs. 
 
There will be three levels of grant payments. The maximum will be £25,000. There will also be grants of £10,000. Local authorities will have discretion to make payments of any amount under £10,000.  
 
Who can apply? 
 

• Small and micro businesses
  

1. To be a small business you must satisfy two or more of the following requirements in a year:  Turnover under £10.2 million. Balance sheet total under 5.1 million. Have a headcount under 50
2. To be a micro business, you must satisfy two or more of the following requirements: Turnover under £632,000. Balance sheet total under £316,000. Have a headcount of staff under 10 

• Businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs 
• Businesses which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis
• Businesses which occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000

As of May 23, businesses eligible for the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will also be eligible to apply for the Local Authority Discretionary Fund.

Government are asking local authorities to prioritise the following types of businesses for grants from within this funding pot:  

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces. Examples could include units in industrial parks, science parks and incubators which do not have their own business rates assessment 
• Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment
• Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of business rates
• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief. 
• Local authorities may choose to make payments to other micro- businesses with fixed costs or support for businesses that are crucial for their local economies.
  

 
How to apply 
 
Contact your Local Authority, you can find local support here. Each Local Authority will run their own application process and will conduct prepayment checks regarding State aid rules. 
 
For full details on eligibility, see here. 
   

Business Rates

For businesses in the Hospitality, Leisure, Tourism and Retail sectors, as well as children’s nurseries the government has suspended business rates for the 2020 – 2021 tax year. For businesses operating in these sectors, the discount will be applied automatically by the local councils who are coordinating the process.

 Your local council will apply the discount automatically. If you think you are entitled to business rates relief, but are currently not receiving this, contact your local council.

Rent Collection

On 23^rd March, the government announced that it would protect commercial tenants missing rent payments due to difficulties created by the COVID-19 outbreak, with a ban on evictions for a three month period. Moreover, on April 25^th, the government announced new measures to further protect UK high street from aggressive rent collection.

These included a temporary ban on statutory demands (made between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2020) and winding up petitions (presented from Monday 27 April, through to 30 June) where a business was not in a position to pay its bills due to the pandemic. The government is also looking to introduce legislation preventing landlords from using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) unless they are owed 90 days of unpaid rent.

On 5th June, the government also announced a 2 month extension to the eviction ban which will come into play on 25 June applying to home owners, commercial and leasehold. This will protect renters from evictions until the 23rd August.

On June 19, the government further published a code of conduct to encourage commercial tenants and landlords to work collaboratively to protect viable businesses and support their recovery planning.

On 21 August, the government announced an additional 4 week extension to the eviction ban, and the introduction of new 6 month notice periods which will be in place until at least 31 March 2021 to provide tenants with greater protection from eviction over the winter.

Commercial tenants will also be protected from the risk of eviction until the end of 2020. In addition, the government will also extend the restriction on landlords using Commercial Rents Arrears Recovery to enforce unpaid rent on commercial leases, until the end of the year.

More information is available on the UK Government’s Coronavirus Business Support website. For more personalised advice call us on: 0161 237 4128 or email us at: BGH@growthco.uk

The information provided is meant as a general guide only rather than advice or assurance. GC Business Growth Hub does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information and professional guidance should be sought on all aspects of business planning and responses to the coronavirus. Use of this guide and toolkit are entirely at the risk of the user. Any hyperlinks from this document are to external resources not connected to the GC Business Growth Hub and The Growth Company is not responsible for the content within any hyperlinked site.