New grants available to firms impacted by Covid

Cannock Chase Council has extended the range of businesses who are eligible for its discretionary grant scheme known as Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG).

It follows the Chancellor 's budget statement last month which promised further support from April to those businesses continuing to be affected by lockdown measures and means grants will become available to self-employed businesses from 30 April.

Full details can be found at www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk

The relevant ARG application form will appear in this website section no later than 15 April. Payments will be made from 30 April onwards.

The Government has allocated £2.9million to the council to help local businesses severely restricted by trading restrictions during the lockdown and for longer-term skills and training initiatives in the District.

It recently announced it was giving £302,000 to a county-wide initiative called Staffordshire Means Back to Business to provide support programmes for small businesses and apprentices, as part of a partnership of councils in Staffordshire.

Dean Piper, head of Economic Prosperity at Cannock Chase Council, said: “Essentially, the Additional Restrictions Grant supports businesses that are not covered by other grant schemes or where additional funding is needed.

“We have already supported a number businesses through this particular grant scheme and would urge all businesses who think they may be eligible to visit our website and to read section 10 of our Local Restrictions Support Grant policy document which sets out eligibility under the Additional Restrictions Grant. ”

Many businesses have previously received what is known as a Local Restrictions Support Grant. Those businesses who received this grant, and who continue to be forced to close, will automatically receive a further grant from the council.

Meanwhile, Re-Start Grants, a one-off final grant, are expected to be paid out to eligible businesses by the end of this month. They are for businesses that were required to close during lockdown. For non-essential retail outlets this means a grant payment of up to £6,000 and for leisure, hospitality and accommodation businesses a grant payment of up to £18,000.

Any business that has previously received a Re-Start Grant will be contacted by the council.