Getting cash support for your business easier than ever, and time is running out to apply

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a variety of grants councils have been administering on behalf of the government, and we know that keeping up-to-date with what’s available can be confusing.

Currently there are five Local Restriction Support Grants available – and one of these has two parts to it – for rated businesses who were forced to close at any point since 5 November 2020.

So far, since November, we have paid out £16.4m to 1,640 businesses – a total of 7,050 separate grant payments (figures as of 11/03/21).

While we’ve been proactively contacting those people who may have previously qualified for earlier schemes to arrange payment as soon as the new ones went live, there may be some people who have not applied at all during the pandemic and so might not have seen any of the money they could be entitled to.

And time is running out to apply for these with all – but the second part of one grant – closing to new applications on Wednesday 31 March 2021.

We’ve set out the information on these grants on our web-pages really clearly – www.norwich.gov.uk/BusinessGrants – but also made it as simple as possible to apply by creating one form for you to tell us your circumstances. One form to complete, and we’ll work out which your eligible for and make the relevant payments as soon as possible.

Additional Restrictions Grants

But that’s not all, for those businesses who are non-rated or who have not been forced to close, but have been severely impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, there are two further discretionary grants. With another on the way soon. Again, you’ll find more details on our web-pages, alongside just one form to complete.

Restart Grants

The government has announced a new Restart Grants scheme to start from April 2021 – for non-essential retail, leisure, hospitality, accommodation, personal care and gym businesses. As soon as we receive details, we’ll publish them.