Major coronavirus business grant schemes in England to be wound up this month

The Small Business Grants Fund, the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Leisure Grants Fund and the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund will close its doors from 28th August.

The BEIS has informed local authorities to return any unspent funds as part of the direction, despite having over £1 billion of allocated funding still available to struggling firms.

At the time of the COVID-19 lockdown in March, the UK Government confirmed that local retailers paying business rates or eligible for business rates relief were entitled to cash grants of £10,000 or £25,000 via the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Leisure Grants Fund.

The addition of the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund helped provide financial aid to further small businesses, such as bed and breakfasts, charity shops, those sharing commercial premises and market traders.

Figures published by the Government ten days ago show that local authorities across England have distributed £10.87 billion through these grant schemes. With £12.33 billion available in total, that leaves £1.5 billion unspent.

Campaigners have urged the Government to reallocate the remaining funds to the “forgotten” businesses that have been unable to access financial aid due to falling through the eligibility gaps of its coronavirus support schemes; particularly individual directors of limited companies and those who do not qualify for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme grant.

Lobby group, Excluded UK, claims as many as three million self-employed professionals and freelancers have been unable to receive a penny in grants.

The Treasury Committee has also called on the government to act quickly to help them. However, the latest statement from the BEIS does not look promising for the excluded millions.

A spokesperson for the BEIS said: “We are working with councils to ensure funds get to as many eligible small business owners as possible.

“Businesses that are eligible but have not yet received grant funding should speak to their council as soon as possible”.

Date published 21 Aug 2020 | Last updated 7 Oct 2020