Businesses urged to apply for £850m still available in Covid-19 support grants
Businesses across the country are being encouraged to apply for remaining grant funding to help them recover from the pandemic.
£850m worth of Covid-19 support grants are still available and firms in England are being encouraged to apply, said Business Minister Paul Scully.
The funding has been made available by the government to local councils in England for them to provide it to businesses in need in their area.
The funding is made up of £556m available through the £635m Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG) scheme, which launched in January 2022, and a further £294m through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme which has been paying out funding since November 2020.
The OHLG scheme provides businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors with one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premise, supporting those that had been most impacted by the Omicron variant. To provide further support to other businesses, the ARG scheme provides councils with funding they can allocate at their discretion to businesses most in need, such as personal care businesses and supply firms.
Small Business Minister Paul Scully said: ’We’re working to get our economy running on all cylinders again so we can focus on making the UK the best place in the world to work and do business, creating jobs along the way. Eligible businesses should apply as soon as possible for the grants available to help them put the pandemic behind them and get on a sounder footing to achieve success.’
The government has provided support for businesses throughout the pandemic, including VAT cuts, business rates holidays and government-backed loans all collectively worth around £400bn.
The Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has written to those local authorities who have more than 5% left over from previous ARG funding rounds, instructing them to distribute any remaining funding. Business Minister Paul Scully has also urged local councils to get the grants to business as soon as possible.
In related news, despite economic uncertainty, there were over 800,000 new companies registered last year – the highest number on record in the UK.
Photo by Mathieu Stern