"Hello I'm Cllr Mike Evemy. Our business rates team is continuing to work flat out to award grants. To date, we've paid out more than £27m to 2,211 local businesses.
“We estimate that more than 450 businesses in the district could be eligible for a grant and have not yet applied. Businesses that have not applied can check their eligibility and download the form from our website below.
“Just over 200 applications need further investigation to determine eligibility and applicants will be contacted by council staff over the next two to three working days to sort this out.
“This has all required a Herculean effort by council staff who have had to establish a secure new payments system to support the grants, first announced by the chancellor on 17th March. The team have done all of this working remotely from their own homes under lockdown.
"If you are concerned about the progress of your business grant application you can call us on 01285 623034 during office hours or email revenues@cotswold.gov.uk quoting your business rates account number.”
The government has announced several different schemes to help businesses counter the COVID-19 situation and sometimes it is hard to determine what support individual businesses are eligible for.
The government has launched a simple tool to help businesses check their eligibility and make the most of the support available.
The HMRC portal for claiming back wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is now open. Enterprise Nation has a very good Guide to the claim process if you are unsure how to go about it. Access the portal from the link below.
The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), which supports large businesses with an annual turnover of over £45 million, has gone live.
All viable businesses with turnover of more than £45 million per year can apply for up to £25 million of finance. Firms with a turnover of more than £250 million can apply for up to £50 million of finance. As with the standard CBILS scheme, this is overseen by the British Business Bank.
The government has announced a new 'Future Fund' to support innovative companies which are facing financing difficulties due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The scheme will provide government loans to UK-based companies subject to at least equal match funding from private investors. The Future Fund may be a suitable option for businesses that rely on equity investment and are unable to access the CBILS. The Future Fund will launch in May 2020.
The government has introduced temporary changes for drivers whose licences are due to expire or have expired since 1 January 2020. The temporary removal of the routine D4 medical will make it easier for bus and lorry drivers to renew their driving licence and, as long as they are fit to drive, applicants will be able to apply for a 1-year licence without the need to provide further medical evidence.
There are a whole range of issues that pension trustees, employers and their advisers are facing as a result of COVID-19. The Pensions Regulator is providing regularly updated advice to help businesses through this complex area.
Gloucestershire Funders is a new collaboration between eight charitable foundations and organisations who can provide funding for charities, groups, people and activities, in Gloucestershire. After listening to charities to understand the impact of COVID-19 they are offering support in four ways.
1. Immediate responsive funding
2. Potential proactive funding
3: Mentoring and support to charity CEOs and Chairs
4. Longer-term recovery, redevelopment and support
Several business groups are coming up trumps with help and advice for businesses. The ones below are good but do also check the trade association for your own sector.
Enterprise Nation - a vibrant community of small businesses and business advisers with a website packed full of resources
UK Hospitality - represents the broad hospitality sector – covering everything from bars, coffee shops, contract catering, hotels, nightclubs, visitor attractions and other leisure venues
The government's business support website sets out the full range of business support measures that have been made available to UK businesses and employees.
Please forward this email to others to whom this might be useful and encourage them to sign up to further updates. Please note that you can access previous editions of this newsletter too.
Our council Coronavirus web pages have updates about business support, communities and leisure, bins and recycling, elections and council meetings, planning, building and council news.
We hope you found this newsletter useful. We would like them to be as relevant as possible so please let us know what you think and don’t forget to send us your news to press@cotswold.gov.uk
"Hello I'm Cllr Mike Evemy. Our business rates team is continuing to work flat out to award grants. To date, we've paid out more than £27m to 2,211 local businesses.
