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Grant support for businesses affected by coronavirus restrictions

Guide to the different grants available for businesses affected by coronavirus restrictions

This page was updated on 31 March 2022.

The COVID-19 Grant Schemes have now closed. Information on each Greater Manchester Council's COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) scheme can be seen through our dedicated page.
 

1. Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant - The scheme ended on 31 March 2022.

  • Businesses in the following sectors in England are eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises:

    • Hospitality (e.g. a pub; hotel; restaurant; bar). 
      The definition of a hospitality business excludes: food kiosks and businesses whose main service (generating 50% or more of income) is a takeaway (not applicable to those that have adapted to offer takeaways during periods of restrictions, in alignment with previous COVID-19 business grant schemes.)

    • Leisure (e.g cinemas, event venues, soft play centres or areas) 
      The definition of a leisure business excludes: all retail businesses, coach tour operators, and tour operators.

    • Accommodation (e.g. hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes)
      The definition of an accommodation business excludes: private dwellings, education accommodation, residential homes, care homes, residential family centres and beach huts
  • Subject to subsidy allowance conditions, businesses will be entitled to receive a grant for each eligible hereditament. 
  • All final payments must be made and dispersed to businesses by 31 March 2022.

How much funding will be provided to businesses?

The value of the grant will vary depending on the rateable value (RV) of each eligible premises

Rateable Value

£0-15k

£15-51k

>£51k

Value of grant available

£2,667

£4K

£6K

 

 

  

Eligibility

  • Businesses eligible for grants are those that offer:
    • in-person services
    • where the main service and activity takes place in a fixed rate-paying premises (If a business operates services that could be considered hospitality or leisure, and also fall into another category, the main service can be determined by assessing which category constitutes 50% or more of their overall income.)
    • in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sector
  • Businesses must also have been trading on 30 December 2021 to be eligible to receive funding under this scheme.

  • The government has published an indicative list of the types of businesses that are eligible under the sector thresholds for this scheme. See Annex A: Business categorisation for the purposes of grant funding thresholds.

How to apply?

These grants will be administered by local authorities and will be available in the coming weeks. To apply for the grant, businesses will need to visit their local council’s website.

Please note: As part of their application process for the scheme, all businesses will be required to self-certify that they meet all eligibility criteria.

2. Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) - The scheme ended on 31 March 2022.

To support other businesses impacted by Omicron – such as those who supply the hospitality and leisure sectors – the government is providing a £102 million top-up to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund for local authorities in England. The ARG top-up will be prioritised for those local authorities that have distributed most of their existing allocation. 

Eligibility 

  • Eligibility criteria for this scheme are at the discretion of local councils.
  • However, local authorities are encouraged to support businesses from all sectors that may have been severely impacted by restrictions, or by the Omicron variant, including those outside of the business rates system.
  • These may include but are not limited to: hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care, the travel and tourism sector, including group travel, travel agents and tour operators, coach operators, wedding industries, nightclubs, theatres, events industries, wholesalers, English language schools, breweries, freelance and mobile businesses (including caterers, events, hair, beauty and wedding-related businesses), gyms, and other businesses that may have not received other grant funding.
  • There is no restriction on the number of grants a business may receive, subject to subsidy limits.

Please note: There is no starting date from which businesses must have been trading in order to qualify for grant funding.

How much funding will be provided to businesses?

The amount of funding provided under the ARG grant scheme will be determined by local councils.  

How to apply?

These grants will be administered by local authorities and will be available in the coming weeks. To apply for the grant, you will need to visit your local council’s website.

To see which grants are available in your area and to apply, please click on your Local Authority below. 

 

Bolton

·       Bolton Council – Grants (includes details on the CARF)

Bury

·       Bury Council – Grants (includes details on the CARF) 

Manchester  

·       Manchester City Council – Grants 
        (includes details on the CARF) 

Oldham

·        Oldham Council – COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) - has now closed

Rochdale

·        Rochdale Council – Grants 
        (includes details on the CARF) 

Salford

·        Salford Council – Grants 

Stockport

·        Stockport Council – COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF)

Tameside

·        Tameside Council – Grants 

Trafford

·        Trafford Council – Grants 
        (includes details on the CARF) 

Wigan

·        Wigan Council – Grants 

Please note that phishing emails seeking to target those eligible for the extended business support grants have been reported. Guidance on recognising phishing emails and texts has been published by the government and additional resources are available through our dedicated Cyber crime awareness during the Coronavirus outbreak page. 

 

More information is available on the UK Government’s Coronavirus Business Support website. For more personalised advice call us on: 0161 359 3050 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.

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