Kirklees Together

Eligible small businesses in Kirklees who have been impacted by Covid-19 can now apply on our website for up to £10,000 to help with ongoing fixed property-related costs through the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund.

This new Government grant fund has been launched to help many of the small businesses who didn’t qualify for financial support under the other Government Covid-19 business grant schemes.

Councillor Shabir Pandor, Leader of Kirklees Council, said:

“I know that this current unprecedented crisis is an extremely difficult time for all our businesses in Kirklees. We haven’t seen anything like this before.

We have already helped thousands of local businesses and will continue to do whatever we can to support them moving forward. Our small businesses are an essential part of what makes Kirklees such a great place to live and work.

I hope that this new Local Authority Discretionary Fund will bring some financial relief to many of the small businesses in Kirklees who may have missed out on Government funding until now. Alongside the fund, we are working with our public, private and voluntary sector partners to develop an economic recovery plan for Kirklees to support business resilience and growth, help people back into work and ensure future investment by the Council and our partners supports the recovery.”

Eligibility criteria for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund

The new Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund has been launched to help small businesses that have been impacted by Covid-19 but are not eligible for the other grant schemes and have ongoing fixed property-related costs. Grants will be awarded based on submitted evidence of actual property-related costs incurred by applicants, including rent, service charges, contribution to landlord rates and other specified property costs, as well as evidence of loss of income due to Covid-19.

The government has set out clear criteria on eligibility and the fund is therefore available to the following types of businesses in Kirklees:

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces which do not have their own business rates assessment will receive up to 6 month’s actual/forecast property costs, capped at £10,000 per applicant.
• Regular market traders with fixed property costs, that do not have their own business rates assessment will receive up to 6 months actual/forecast property costs, capped at £2,500 per applicant.
• Bed and breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rates will receive up to 6 months actual/forecast property costs, capped at £3,000 per applicant.
• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief will receive up to 6 months actual/forecast property costs, capped at £10,000 per applicant.

Businesses who have applied for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self-employed Income Support Scheme will also be eligible to apply for this scheme, but those who have already received support from the Small Business Grant Fund; Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund; Self-employed Income Support Scheme or other Government coronavirus support schemes will not be able to apply.

Applications for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund must be made online by Monday 22 June 2020. For further information and to apply visit our website.

More information

These grants are just one element of a package of financial support the Government has launched for businesses impacted by COVID-19. Businesses can check what financial support they are entitled to using the GOV UK checker tool on the Government website.

For further information visit our website.