Discretionary grants for businesses

The Government announced the Local Authority Discretionary ‘Grants’ Fund scheme on 1 May 2020 and issued guidance to councils on 13 May 2020 and 23 May 2020. 

In line with the Government’s requirements, Harborough District Council has developed its Policy in respect of its local LA Discretionary Fund scheme. The scheme will follow an online application process which will have a two-week application window, starting on Wednesday 3 June until Wednesday 17 June 2020. 

Priority businesses 

The scheme is aimed at 4 national and 4 local priority areas. The 4 national priority areas are: 

  • small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces 
  • regular market traders with fixed building costs 
  • bed & breakfasts which pay Council Tax 
  • charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relied (with a rateable value less than £15,000) 

and the 4 local priority areas are: 

  • seasonal tourism operatives 
  • independent food and drink producers 
  • independent creative industries 
  • independent agricultural industries 

Eligibility 

There are some strict eligibility criteria, and by way of example these include (but are not limited to) the size of business, property costs, impact of Covid-19, receipt of other local or national government support, trading period, businesses in administration and state aid. 

Application and assessment 

This is the Council’s LA Discretionary Grant application form. It is highly recommended that prior to completing the application from you read the Policy, the information on this web page, and the instructions at the start of the application form. 

The assessment process will follow a 2-stage process: 

  1. Stage 1 will require you to complete an online application; this will pose a series of eligibility questions that must be answered and at certain points in the form will also require you to upload supporting information/evidence 
  2. Stage 2 will be the formal assessment process and will take place once the application window has closed. 

Please note that there is no appeals process and no late applications will be accepted. 

Grants will be distributed once the 2nd stage process has been completed. However, because the Council does not know how many applications it will receive it may take up to two weeks to complete the assessment. 

Amount of grant to each business 

Please note that there is a limited pot of money, but it is expected that the vast majority of grants, if not all, will be considerably less than £10,000. 

Regulation 

Please note that the application form and all submitted information will be subject to the statutory requirements of the Local Government Transparency Regulations and Freedom of Information legislation. Further, you must only apply if you: 

  • are entitled to do so, 
  • accept that where misinformation has been provided in error, fraud or similar that you will repay the grant received, and 
  • are in compliance with State Aid (this is discussed further in the Policy)

 

Apply for a discretionary grant    Download the discretionary grants fund policy

Please note that in order to access the online application form, you need to Sign In to your account or Register a new one (it's free). Prior to applying, please take a moment to:

  • download and read the Policy document
  • read the instructions on how to complete the online form
  • gather the evidence you need to upload in support of your application

If you have any queries please email customer.services@harborough.gov.uk