East Suffolk Council
Covid-19 business grant funding
The LRSG and ARG schemes both closed on 31 March 2021.
The business grant scheme available from 1 April 2021 is known as the Restart Grant.
Restart Grants (RG)
The primary principle of the Restart Grant scheme is to support businesses that offer in-person services, where the main service and activity takes place in a fixed rate-paying premises, in the relevant sectors. As the administering body of the grants for this area, we are responsible for determining whether businesses are entitled to a grant under the non-essential retail thresholds, or under the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym/sport business thresholds.
Eligibility
Your business may be eligible for a Restart Grant if it is:
- based in East Suffolk
- rate-paying
- in the non-essential retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care or gym/sport sectors
- trading on 1 April 2021
Businesses excluded from the restart grant fund
You cannot get funding if your business:
- is in administration, insolvent or has been, or is in the process of being, struck off the Companies House register
- has exceeded the permitted subsidy allowance
- is not a business ratepayer
- is not in an eligible category of businesses providing in-person services
You must notify us if your situation changes and you no longer meet the eligibility criteria.
Grant amounts
If your business meets the eligibility criteria for this grant scheme, your business will be paid a one-off grant:
| Strand One - Non-essential retail | |
|---|---|
|
Rateable Value of exactly £15,000 or under |
£2,667 |
|
Rateable Value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 |
£4,000 |
|
Rateable Value of exactly £51,000 or over |
£6,000 |
| Strand Two - Hospitality, leisure, accommodation, personal care, gym and sport | |
|
Rateable Value of exactly £15,000 or under |
£8,000 |
|
Rateable Value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 |
£12,000 |
|
Rateable Value of exactly £51,000 or over |
£18,000 |
Please note, it may take three to four weeks to process applications to this scheme, due to strict pre-payment checks and verification processes.
How to apply
Please read the following important information, depending on whether you have already received a grant from us:
If your business has already received an LRSG grant from us:
If we have paid you the LRSG grant since 5 November, and we think you may be eligible for the Restart Grant, we will email you with a link to a shortened application form called a ‘Confirmation of Grant’ form. We will use some of the details from your previous successful LRSG application, to save you having to tell us those things again, but you will have an opportunity to tell us about changes in your circumstances on the form.
Please check your spam or junk email folders to ensure you have received this email from us.
If you believe you are eligible and have not received an email from us regarding the Restart Grant, please contact us, stating your LRSG reference number at covid19businessgrants@eastsuffolk.gov.uk
First-time applicants:
For those businesses that have not been awarded an LRSG grant by us since 5 November 2020 - please read the eligibility criteria to confirm your business is eligible. If so, you will need to fill in the full Restart Grant application form:
| Covid-19 Restart Grant application form |
If you are unsure whether your business is eligible, please contact us, stating your full business name, address and NDR account number covid19businessgrants@eastsuffolk.gov.uk
Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) recipients:
For those businesses who are not ratepayers or are not eligible for the Restart Grant because they are not an eligible business type - we are waiting to hear whether we will be allocated further grant funding to support the re-opening of the ARG scheme for East Suffolk.
Details will be updated on this webpage as soon as we have more information for this category of businesses.
Subsidy allowance
The Restart Grants scheme is covered by 3 subsidy allowances:
- Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance – you are allowed up to £335,000 (subject to exchange rates) over any period of 3 years
- COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance – you are allowed up to £1,600,000
- COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance - if you have reached your limits under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance and COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance, you may be able to access a further allowance of funding under these scheme rules of up to £9,000,000, provided certain conditions are met
Grants under these 3 allowances can be combined for a potential total allowance of up to £10,935,000 (subject to exchange rates).
You will be asked as part of your application whether you have exceeded these limits of subsidy allowance for your business.
Any business that has exceeded the £335,000 threshold in aid will be required to complete a separate declaration as part of the Restart Grant application process. If this is likely to apply to your business, you can download the explanatory notes and declaration here and email the completed declaration to: Covid19businessgrants@eastsuffolk.gov.uk