Business rates support and grants

COVID Additional Relief Fund

The Government has provided South Derbyshire District Council with just under £2m of COVID-19 Additional Relief funding to distribute to eligible businesses in the district.

The funding will be distributed in the form of a reduction on businesses’ rates bill for 2021/2022. If a business is up to date on its rates payments for 2021/2022 the funding will then be used to pay off any rates arrears, or current year rates payments. Up to date businesses can also claim a refund.

To be eligible for the relief a business:

• Must have been in occupation of its premise anytime during and up until the end of the 2021/2022 financial year.
• Will be able to demonstrate it was negatively affected by COVID-19.
• Was not eligible for Extended Retail Discount (covering Retail, Hospitality and Leisure), the Nursery Discount, the Airport and Grounds Operations Support Scheme, Small Business Rates Relief (resulting in a £0 bill), or any other relief (resulting in a £0 bill).
• Empty properties and properties owned by councils (including parish councils) are also not eligible.

As part of your application you will need to :

• Upload a letter from a chartered accountant that details your business turnover in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 and demonstrates a turnover drop in 2020/2021. (If your accounting year does not end in March, and your 2019/2020 accounts include a significant time period when your business was affected by COVID, you can also upload your 2018/2019 accounts to demonstrate pre-COVID trading figures.)
• Supply a full bank statement from the last three months to demonstrate the business is still operational.

The minimum funding successful applicants will receive is up to £1,000 (unless their rates bill is less than £1,000 and then the full rates bill will be covered), plus up to 30% of their remaining rates liability for 2021/2022 (up to a total max of £5,000), depending on the impact of COVID on the business (see funding table below).

Category	Anticipated award*	Criteria
Drop in turnover between 10% and 20%	If a business’s net rates liability is less than £1,000, the authority will fund the rates bill for 2021/2022 in full. If a business’s net rates bill, is greater than £1,000, they will receive £1,000, plus up to 10% of the remaining rates liability (up to a total maximum of £5,000). See worked examples overleaf.	Based on reduction of turnover for financial year 20/21 as opposed to 19/20.
Drop in turnover between 21% and 30%	If a business’s net rates liability is less than £1,000, the authority will fund the rates bill for 2021/2022 in full. If a business’s net rates bill, is greater than £1,000, they will receive £1,000, plus up to 20% of the remaining rates liability (up to a total maximum of £5,000). See worked examples overleaf.	Based on reduction of turnover for financial year 20/21 as opposed to 19/20.
Drop in turnover between 31% and 50%	If a business’s net rates liability is less than £1,000, the authority will fund the rates bill for 2021/2022 in full. If a business’s net rates bill, is greater than £1,000, they will receive £1,000, plus up to 25% of the remaining rates liability (up to a total maximum of £5,000). See worked examples overleaf.	Based on reduction of turnover for financial year 20/21 as opposed to 19/20.
Drop in turnover of over 51%	If a business’s net rates liability is less than £1,000, the authority will fund the rates bill for 2021/2022 in full. If a business’s net rates bill, is greater than £1,000, they will receive £1,000, plus up to 30% of the remaining rates liability (up to a total maximum of £5,000). See worked examples overleaf.	Based on reduction of turnover for financial year 20/21 as opposed to 19/20.

Worked examples (based on loss of 10%)

Net rates liability for 2021/2022
£600	Authority pays rates liability in full.
£4,200	£1,000, plus up to 10% of remaining rates liability (£3,200 @ 10% £320) = £1,320.
£28,000	£1,000, plus up to 10% of remaining rates liability (£27,000 @ 10% = £2,700) = £3,700.
£70,000	£1,000, plus up to 10% of remaining rates liability (£69,000 @ 10% = £6,900) = £5,000 (max total award £5,000).

Please note the final award amounts will not be confirmed until all applications are received, as the Council will aim to fully spend the available funding across all eligible businesses. The above percentages and maximum amounts could be subject to change up or down. If all potentially eligible businesses apply/are eligible, the grant relief provided could be lower than detailed in the above table, however the minimum grant level of up to £1,000 per successful applicant will remain.

If you have any questions, please vemail business.grants@southderbyshire.gov.uk   

All applications and evidence must be received no later than Wednesday 31 August 2022 at 5pm. Any applications or evidence received after this date will not be considered. Incomplete applications will also not be considered.

COVID-19 business grants - all schemes now closed

The District Council is proud to have distributed over £30 million in COVID-19 grants to businesses across the district to help support them during the pandemic. All grant schemes are now closed, all applicants have been notified of the outcome of their grant application and all payments have been made.There is no appeals process if your grant claim was unsuccessful.

All applications were assessed against a scoring criteria which determined whether they received a grant and how much grant funding was awarded, as detailed in the relevant policy document - see box on right. The Council accepts no responsibility for any business that did not receive a grant for whatever reason, and there is no appeals process in relation to grant awards/non-awards or grant levels.