Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, a range of grants and loan schemes have been made available to businesses facing financial difficulty – from Bounce Back and CBILS, to the Local Restrictions Support Grant, supporting open and closed premises.
However, despite the fact that the majority of this existing support will close at the end of March, financial hardship is still being experienced and so the Chancellor recognised the need to respond to this in his Budget.
Restart Grant Scheme
Confirmed at Spring Budget 2021, the Government will provide ‘Restart Grants’ via local authorities in England (as well as £425m of other discretionary funding) for non-essential retail businesses and those operating in the hospitality and leisure industries.
Non-essential retail businesses will be able to access up to £6,000 of funding per premises, whilst hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses will be able to apply for grants worth up to £18,000 per premises.
The funding is intended to replace the Local Restrictions Support Grants and help those most severely impacted by the lockdown restrictions to plan for and achieve a safe re-opening.
Recovery Loan Scheme
As the Government’s existing loan schemes also draw to a close, the Recovery Loan Scheme will be made available to any business (regardless of whether they have already accessed funding under another Covid-19 guaranteed loan scheme) from the 6 April 2021.
The scheme will give lenders an 80% guarantee on eligible loans between £25,000 and £10 million, encouraging them to financially back struggling businesses with confidence.
Samantha comments: “The additional funding is welcome at a time where businesses are still uncertain of what lays ahead for their industries and how soon they’re likely to achieve pre-covid trading levels.
“It’s always worth checking that you are receiving the support you’re entitled to as the funding options continue to change and new offerings arise.”
How can George Hay help?
We support hundreds of businesses, across Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and throughout the UK, just like yours.
If you are unsure of your eligibility for funding, we can help you to identify which support measures are open to you and we can assist you with the provision of supporting documentation for your application, if required.
To speak to one of our friendly professionals, please contact us today or fill in one of our online enquiry forms.
