Coronavirus - Business and licensing
Details about changes to licensing and our working practices will now be in the business and licensing section of the website. The best source of information and guidance on Coronavirus is on Gov.uk.
Business grants
January 2022 grant scheme
We are offering small top-up grants to all those businesses we supported during the previous COVID restrictions through either the Government's Restart Grant or our own ARG Restart grant. We will be emailing all of these businesses requesting confirmation they are still trading and still eligible. Please look out for the email if you have had a Restart grant from us previously. Businesses that reply late or send an incomplete reply will be unable to be considered for this grant.
Business Growth Support Scheme
In addition, we are offering a limited number of Business Growth Support packages which will comprise of a session with a business advisor as well as a grant. These are for those that can show how support and funding would help them grow their business or make it more resilient. This scheme will open on 10 January and all applicants will need to complete a full application form whether they have received previous COVID grants or not. The deadline for applications in 28 January.
Apply for business growth supportOmicron financial support grants
Just before Christmas the Government announced two additional business grants that Local Authorities will be administering: the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant and a new round of Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG)
We received guidance on amounts and how these are to be distributed last week and we are currently working as fast as possible to set up the processes to get these grants out to support eligible businesses.
The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant will support hospitality, leisure and accommodation business premises. The Government have set out the eligibility criteria for this grant. We will be emailing all those businesses who have previously received a grant from us and we believe are eligible by the end of January. We will also be opening an application form at the end of January for any new applicants on our website.
For the ARG funding we have received limited amounts of money from Government to distribute to businesses that have been severely impacted by the recent surge in cases but not covered by the other grant. We will be opening an application form for this grant with a list of eligible businesses and criteria on our website towards the middle of February.
We will keep all businesses updated via our Business Matters newsletter, our website and social media and will release more details as soon as we have them. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to get this funding out to local businesses.
Keeping up to date
We will be sending out regular email updates in our Business Matters newsletter. Join our mailing list to receive the latest business news and read previous editions.
Sign up to Business Matters newsletterFinancial support
The Recovery Loan Scheme supports access to finance for UK businesses.
Working safely
Read working safely during coronavirus on GOV.UK. This government guidance is to help employers, employees and the self-employed understand how to work safely during the coronavirus pandemic. The guides cover a range of different types of businesses.
There are separate guidelines for transport operators.
The Canine and Feline Sector Group (CFSG) have issued some guidance on safe practices for animal businesses.
A guide on maintaining records for staff, customers and visitors to support NHS Test and Trace.
Test and trace
From the 24 September 2020 some businesses will need to display a NHS QR code poster to let customers check in with the Test and Trace app. To find out which businesses need to do this and to get a QR code poster visit the NHS Covid information for organisations website.