Harlow Council has reviewed the criteria for the distribution of discretionary business grants so more businesses which have been impacted by the ongoing restrictions and lockdowns can receive financial support.
The first step will be to distribute grant money to taxi and private hire drivers. The council has identified approximately 270 hackney carriage drivers and private hire drivers licensed by Harlow Council and work is taking place with the Licensing Team to contact them and make payments quickly and efficiently.
In addition talks are close to concluding with Essex County Council that may enable further funding to grant payments to the following businesses:
· Any business which relies on close physical contact (e.g. personal care workers, hair and beauty, driving instructors, etc.)
· A business which forms part of the direct supply chain for hospitality, leisure or accommodation, including tourism
· A business which supplies non-essential retail
· A business which forms part of the direct supply chain for aviation businesses
· A business which directly organises, facilitates or performs at organised events
· A business which supplies to organised events
· A business that is not on the rating list that has been forced to close either due to mandatory restrictions or due to the temporary close of their host premises (including non-essential market traders)
· A business which can demonstrate a heavy reliance on the ability for people to travel
· Newly self-employed who set up a business after 6th April 2019 and before 1st January 2020.
· Limited company directors who are not located in rateable premises and who cannot furlough themselves and continue to work to save their business.
Once agreed, further information will be issued on these payments so businesses can start to apply for these grants. The council will also directly contact those self-employed businesses which were not eligible previously for a grant who may be eligible for help with this scheme.
Harlow Council received Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) from the Government to pay out on a discretionary basis to businesses that had not qualified for previous grants. ARG is to last until next March 2022 and as well as supporting businesses during the pandemic it would also be used to support businesses coming out of the pandemic. It is a limited pot of money and the Government was clear there would be no more when this was gone. Like all other grants delivered through the council, ARG came with guidance about how it should be distributed. One heavy directive was that this should be led initially by high fixed business costs, especially those linked to property and this led to the policy that has been followed by the council.
Councillor Mark Ingall, Leader of Harlow Council, said: “The guidance has been subject to interpretation and different councils have adopted different policies which has led to variations in distribution and a sense of unfairness. It has also become clear that more businesses in Harlow particularly self-employed businesses have become further impacted as restrictions and lockdowns have gone on and they now require additional financial support. When the variations became apparent, I promised local businesses that we would compare Harlow’s scheme with neighbouring councils and that work has been done. We have also taken note that the Covid infection rate is falling rapidly, the Prime Minister has spoken about the hope of lockdown ending in June and that this should be the last lockdown. With that in mind a decision has been taken that we can start to broaden our criteria and get more of the money out now. We will keep our policy under regular review so we can continue to adapt our discretionary grant schemes to support Harlow businesses which need help during and after the pandemic.”
Payments made to date
The council’s Revenues & Benefits Team have now distributed just under £36m of government grants and relief to support businesses, following complex and frequently changing guidance. This is additional work alongside their existing duties they have worked incredibly hard, going the extra mile to support Harlow’s business community at this time.
Recent business grants paid out by the team include:
· One-off Closed Business Lockdown payments of £4k, £6k or £9k – 325 payments to date totalling £1,756,000
· Local restriction support grants – 1,088 payments totalling £2,899,745
· Additional restrictions discretionary grants – 179 payments totalling £561,178.
· Wet-led pub grants – £20,000 paid to 20 pubs (deadline for applications has now closed)
· Business adaptation grants – – £8,000 has been paid out so far to 7 businesses with more applications being considered.
The latest information on all the grants is at www.harlow.gov.uk/coronavirus/businesses
New grants and relief
Following the chancellor’s budget announcement last week the council is currently awaiting full guidance from government on retail and nursery relief from 1 April 2021 and restart grants for non-essential retail businesses, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses.
Once the council has details and the funding is received for the restart grants, it will be able to give assistance to businesses which are eligible for support. The council’s website will continue to be kept updated.
