Elmbridge discretionary re-opening grant scheme if you do not pay business rates
Updated: 22 June 2021
The scheme, published on 17 May 2021 is aimed at ratepayers where their operation has been adversely impacted by covid restrictions.
One-off grants are available based on annual turnover:
- For businesses with a turnover of between £2,500 and £4,999 grants to be £500
- For businesses with a turnover of between £5,000 and £24,999 grants to be £1,000
- For businesses with a turnover of between £25,000 and £49,999 grants to be £2,250
- For businesses with a turnover of between £50,000 and £99,999 grants to be £4,000
- For businesses with a turnover of £100,000 and £249,999 grants to be £7,500
- For businesses with a turnover of £250,000 or greater grants to be £12,500
- No grant will be available if the turnover is less than £2,500
If you have been paid a grant between February - April 2021:
The application form on this website is not applicable for you. Do not re-apply. We have emailed you directly requesting additional information to assess eligibility for a further grant payment based on annual turnover.
It is important to read the policy published on this web page before submitting the required additional information. As we have limited funding left to allocate from the government and cannot exceed it, this scheme will be a first come, first served.
If you have not been paid a grant between February - April 2021:
As we have limited funding left to allocate from the government and cannot exceed it, this scheme will be a first come first served. We will process applications in the following strict order:
- Businesses who provide all the required and valid evidence at the same time as submitting the application will be assessed for grant eligibility.
- Businesses who do not provide all the required and valid evidence at the same time as submitting the application will be contacted by email for missing documentation. If the correct evidence is submitted within 2 working days, the application will be assessed for grant eligibility in the date order we receive the missing documentation. Once we exceed the funding available there can be no further grant payments, irrespective of whether the valid evidence was submitted within the time period.
- Businesses who do not comply with the above criteria will not be eligible for assessment.
Eligibility
- The business must have premises (which includes where a business has been operating from a Council Tax property) within the boundary of Elmbridge Borough Council and be located in premises or shared premises.
- The business must have suffered a financial loss of at least 40%, either directly or indirectly as a result of the additional restrictions in place since 18 December 2020.Only one grant will be payable per business regardless of the number of properties, premises leasehold etc.
- Businesses that are eligible for the non-discretionary business restart grants, are not eligible for grants under this scheme.
The government have mandated that the council must gather additional information for these grants, as well as carrying out pre-payment checks. This will delay grant payments being paid to businesses.
Required evidence
You must upload your evidence at the same time as your application. If no evidence is submitted it will delay processing the application and may at our discretion, invalidate your application.
- Bank statements showing revenue income before 17 October 2020, covering any 6 month period from December 2019 and
- Bank statements and/or sales orders for a minimum of 3 months covering any period from 19 December 2020, showing 40% loss in revenue income and
- A document explaining your bank statements: incoming transactions to include, and incoming transactions to exclude for calculating 40% loss in revenue and
- Latest audited accounts which must show annual turnover or HMRC return.
- If you have been trading for less than a year you will need to provide your business plan and management accounts
Elmbridge Discretionary scheme policy
Apply for your Elmbridge re-opening business grant if you do not pay business rates
The closing date for applications is 5pm on 30 June 2021.
Subsidy allowance
COVID-19 business support grants are subject to subsidy allowance. Subsidy rules are applied at the level of economic actor, defined as an entity or a group of entities constituting a single economic entity regardless of its legal status (for example, in a group of companies each be a legal entity, but could be considered as an economic actor in aggregate), that is engaged in an economic activity by offering goods or services on a market. COVID-19 business support grants are covered by 3 subsidy allowances:
Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance – your business is allowed up to £335,000 over any period of 3 years
COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance – your business is allowed up to £1,600,000
COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance - if your business has reached the 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 and evidence provided.
Grants under these 3 allowances can be combined for a potential total allowance of up to £10,935,000. These figures are as a guide only and could change depending on exchange rates.
It is up to each individual applicant to comply with the subsidy rules, and provide evidence of compliance when requested.
Funding paid to companies who have exceeded the subsidy limits will be recoverable. Please read the full policy for greater detail, and/or seek advice from your accountant, we cannot provide individual advice on compliance with subsidy limits.
