Thanet council opens for Covid Discretionary Business Grants applications

Income

Thanet council has opened applications for the Discretionary Business Grants scheme today (June 1).

The council will be distributing £1.66m of Central Government funding to isle businesses that submit eligible applications.

The scheme is aimed at those businesses that didn’t qualify for the previous round of business grants, that have been affected by Covid-19.

The scheme will be administered in accordance with  guidance issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Eligibility

Thanet’s scheme is eligible to the following categories of businesses:

  • Businesses in shared workspaces, such as in industrial parks, science parks or business incubators
  • Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of business rates, but excluding properties that operate on the AirBnB platform
  • Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment. This scheme will only apply to those with an address in the district.
  • Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.
  • Thanet Priority Businesses – Design, Film, TV, Radio, and Photography; Music, Performing Arts and Visual Arts; boat charters.

To be eligible for the grant businesses must be able to evidence and demonstrate that they:

  • Operate from premises within the Thanet district
  • Are a small or micro businesses with turnover below £10.2 million, have assets below £5.1 million and have less than 50 employees
  • Have suffered at least a 25% reduction in income due to the Coronavirus crisis;
  • Are a business with on-going fixed premise related costs
  • Were trading on March 11, 2020 (as defined by government guidance)
  • Are not in administration, are not insolvent or do not have a striking-off notice
  • Occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000
  • Are eligible for grants under the EU State Aid De Minimis rules or the COVID-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities;

How to apply

The application form will seek the information required to check the eligibility of the business for the grant.

In the application process the applicant will be required to provide evidence to support the eligibility of the organisation.

Deadline to submit an application – 11:59pm Monday, June 15

Subject to the volume of applications received, applications will be processed and payments made to successful applicants by the end of the month.

How funding will be awarded

The council will make a fixed and equal award to all eligible applicants who successfully meet the criteria and scheme requirements.

Successful applicants will receive the grant, and unsuccessful applicants will receive a notification before the end of the month.

This means the size of the award will depend on the final number of eligible applications.

Based on assumptions, it is estimated that all eligible businesses will receive a grant in the region of £2,900. However, this figure is subject to significant estimation and could vary substantially in either direction depending on the number of applicants.

The maximum allocation will be capped at £10,000.

Leader of Thanet District Council, Cllr Rick Everitt said: “It is vital that we support our small businesses during this difficult time. Businesses have told us they are continuing to incur costs, but have lost income as a result of the global pandemic and many haven’t qualified for previous government funding.

“We know how important it is to help as many local businesses as possible and as quickly as possible. We will be distributing the £1.6m equally to all businesses that apply and are assessed as eligible. I encourage any small business owner who is eligible to make an application and access all the help that is available.”

2 Comments

  1. What about the council tax relief for people who work and are key workers? The government has provided provision to all local authorities but no news from Thanet Council. Typical, probably using it for their own gain.

    • One has to apply for council tax relief , it is not broadcast by tdc . log into council website i think its still under eastkenthousing.org . you will have to fill in a online form

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