Four vital financial measures to help save businesses in Southport have been revealed by Sefton Council.
The local authority is busy working with firms from across the borough over how they can put into place the COVID-19 Business Rates Support for 2020/21.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer this week announced several measures aimed at supporting companies during the current outbreak.
This includes the following measures in relation to business rates and small business grant funding that we expect to be administered by local billing authorities, such as Sefton:
1 Business Rates Holiday
A 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England.
This will also apply to non-local authority providers of childcare.
2 Business Rates Pubs Discount
The level of the pubs discount will be increased from £1,000 to £5,000 for pubs with a rateable value less than £100,000.
3 Small Business Grant Funding
A grant of £10,000 will be provided to around 700,000 businesses currently eligible for Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief, to help meet their ongoing business costs.
4 Further Grants
Further grants of up to £25,000 per business will be available to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises, with a rateable value of over £15,000 and below £51,000.
A Sefton Council spokesman said: “We are currently awaiting the Government to publish details of the eligibility criteria and administration regulations that will apply to the additional reliefs and small business grant funding announced for 2020/21.
“In terms of Business Rate Holiday and Pub Relief, we expect to apply any new or additional relief automatically to business rate bills at the earliest opportunity. However, this will depend upon how soon the regulations are published and what criteria is set.
“Eligible businesses will be issued with a revised bill for 2020/21 and a refund covering any amounts overpaid in the year.
“For Small Business Grant Funding, we expect to start contacting eligible businesses as soon as practical once the Government has published details of the grant funding scheme which is expected in April 2020.
“The Chancellor also announced a package of government-backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses worth an initial £330billion.
“For small and medium sized businesses this will be through a new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (and through a lending facility with the Bank of England for larger firms).
“Other measures to support businesses relate to Statutory Sick Pay and HMRC’s Time to Pay service.”
Details can be found at:
