Additional Restrictions Support Grant

Introduction:

Hyndburn was placed in Tier 3 (Very High Alert Level) restrictions from 17 October 2020.

The Additional Restriction Grant will provide financial assistance and support to businesses which were open and trading but have been severely impacted during the period of localised restrictions.

Businesses must have been trading as at 23 March 2020 when the Covid-19 emergency was triggered by the Government, and have continued to trade and operate over the period of localised restrictions.

Eligibility:

Applications will be considered from all businesses large or small, including businesses with less than five employees, and those operating on a self-employed basis.

Applications can be submitted both by businesses that are included in the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Rating List and have a Non Domestic Rates assessment, together with businesses that are not in the VOA Rating List and do not have a Non Domestic Rates assessment, however the Council will administer the Additional Restriction Grant scheme to support businesses where:

• The business has not previously received a grant in connection with Covid-19 from the Council or received other financial support from the Government. (Businesses that have however received help can still apply)
• The business will have to demonstrate that they have been severely impacted by Covid-19
• The business activity has to be taking place in Hyndburn

What you will receive:

The amount to be paid will be determined by the Council.

However, as a guide if your business has rateable value of your property for business rates purposes. There are 3 rates of grant payments as detailed below:- 

Where a business is awarded a grant but does not have a rateable value the grant award will be based on the number of employees in line with BEIS definitions of size of companies.

Payments to eligible businesses will be made every 28 days provided the conditions of the grant continues to be met and the business confirms no changes in their circumstances. 

The scheme will operate in accordance with Government Guidance and funding availability.

Exclusions:

Businesses established after the 23 March 2020 will not be eligible to receive grant funding.

Businesses that were in administration, are insolvent, or where a striking-off notice has been made are not eligible for funding under this scheme.

If you already receive state aid:

The Additional Restriction Grant counts towards state aid.

Payments count towards the total de minimis State aid you are allowed to get over a 3-year period - €200,000. If you have reached that threshold, you may still be eligible for funding under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework. The limit for the framework is €800,000.

If you proceed to make an application we will ask you to complete a declaration confirming that:

• You will not exceed the relevant State aid threshold
• You were not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ on 31 December 2019. This applies only to the COVID-19 Temporary Framework

Received rescue aid that has not been repaid, or are subject to a restructuring plan under State aid rules.

The application process

To apply, you must complete all relevant questions on each section of the application form and provide all evidence and information.

Incomplete applications will not be accepted, nor will applications without full supporting evidence and information.

The Additional Restriction Grant counts towards state aid.

What happens next

Once you have applied for the Additional Restriction Grant, you will receive an email to confirm that your application has been received.

We aim to consider all applications upon receipt of a fully completed application form together with all relevant evidence and information within 14 days.  If you fail to provide all relevant information, this will delay your application.

If your application is successful, we will email/write to you and the Grant will be paid into your nominated bank account. Please note that all grants will be paid by BACS only.

Phase 1 of Additional Restriction Grant ran from 17 October 2020 to 11 December 2020, and the application window for this period of support closed on Wednesday 16 December 2020.

Phase 2 of the Additional Restriction Grant ran from 12 December 2020 to 08 January 2021, and the application window for this period of support closed on Wednesday 13 January 2021.

Phase 3 of the Additional Restriction Grant ran from 09 January 2021 to 05 February 2021, and the application window for this period of support closed on Thursday 11 February 2021.

Phase 4 of the Additional Restriction Grant will run from Saturday 06 February 2021 to Friday 05 March 2021, and the application window for this period of support is now open, and will close at 5:00pm Thursday 04 March 2021. Businesses that are eligible are those that have not been mandated to close by Government during the current period of national restrictions, together with those businesses that are mandated to close that do not have their own business rates assessment.

Businesses will be required to submit a new application form every 28 days to continue to receive financial support.  The scheme will operate in accordance with Government guidelines and funding availability.

If your application is not successful, we will notify you in writing outlining the reason why. Under BEIS guidance there is no option to appeal a decision, however if you think we have made an error in processing your application, please email us at enquiries@hyndburnbc.gov.uk

This part of the form requires the personal details of the person completing the form. There are other places in the form for entering the business or company name and any business addresses etc.

An employee of the Company can give the business address as an answer within this section of the form, if this is where they are based and the most useful address to send correspondence during the lockdown, however it they are working from home then home contact details would be better.

This section requires you to provide details of your business’s finances to help the Council determine if you should receive a grant award and how much you should receive.

It asks for details from your last two full financial years starting with the oldest first, followed by your most recent full set of annual accounts.

It then asks for details of your projected or forecast income and expenditure for the current financial year and asks you to first provide your forecasts before the COVID-19 pandemic started and any revised forecasts you have, given the impact of COVID-19 or the “Lockdown” on your business.

Where possible you should use official figures from your business or company accounts and tax returns and official forecasts or budgets or management accounts you prepare for your business and use internally and that you might share with external organisations such as banks or lenders etc.

In places the Council is potentially asking for information which may be non-standard in terms of how you operate your business. For instance, in the Turnover section below, we are asking for you to provide an analysis of your sales by direct sales to customers who attend your premises to make their purchase, web based sales, telephone sales, business to business sales etc. This is because the Lockdown will have impacted on these types of sales in different ways. Where information is requested and is not part of your normal financial information reporting we ask you to supply your best estimate of the figure requested.

At the end of the section we ask you to upload your last 2 sets of annual accounts. They can be uploaded as a pdf or in a variety of formats. The accounts submitted should match those submitted to HMRC.

If you have not completed accounts for the last two years or have not been trading or only commenced trading in the last two years, please enter zeros in the relevant sections and complete whatever parts of the form you can.

Turnover

Property Costs