Support for South Derbyshire businesses affected by COVID-19

Support is available for businesses in South Derbyshire which have been affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).

South Derbyshire District Council is administering a business support scheme which was announced by the Government earlier this month.

This includes a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Eligible businesses do not need to do anything to receive this support. South Derbyshire District Council will send out new bills to eligible businesses in the coming weeks that shows they are eligible for 100 per cent off their bills. 

The council will also administer two grants to local businesses. The first is a £10,000 grant for businesses that are either in receipt of, or eligible for, small business rate relief or rural rate relief.

The second is a grant of either £10,000 or £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses that are eligible for the business rate holiday under the expanded retail discount scheme.

The amount of a grant a business will receive will depend on their premises rateable value. Premises with a rateable value of up to £15,000 will receive £10,000. Premises with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £50,999 will receive £25,000.

The council will write to eligible businesses over the coming weeks to ask them to provide the information the Council needs via an online form to verify their grant claim and make payments.

Councillor Martyn Ford, South Derbyshire District Council’s leader, said:

“We are working to contact all our eligible businesses so we can process their claims and pay the funding into their business account as soon as possible.

“Businesses that may be eligible for the grant will receive a letter to their business premises in the coming weeks. Anyone who doesn’t receive, or can’t collect, their letter should email us, so we can send them instructions on how to submit their information.”

“We have a thriving business community and we are delighted to be in a position to support the Government to distribute these grants, so that we can help to support our small, rural and retail, hospitality and leisure businesses through these challenging times.”

Businesses who have not received a letter or have questions, can contact the council by emailing business.grants@southderbyshire.gov.uk.

To find out more, including the full eligibility criteria for the grants, please visit www.southderbyshire.gov.uk/businessgrants.

The grants are not available for premises occupied for personal use, car parks and parking spaces and businesses that were in liquidation or dissolved as of 11 March 2020.

The grants are part of a package of Government support for businesses, the self-employed and particular sectors - this ranges from grants and loans to Business Rate holidays and deferment of taxes. Details continue to be released and the latest information can be found at www.gov.uk. 

6 April 2020