Business support grants update 14.01.21

Date Added: 18/01/2021

New business grant - the government has given us details of a new one-off grant for retail and hospitality businesses of up to £9,000 called the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment (CBLP).

The good news is that businesses will not have to make a fresh application to us. However, some businesses will be required to certify they were trading on Monday, 4 January 2021. We will be emailing asking them to confirm this so please monitor your email. We will not ask for bank details as we already hold this information.

Businesses eligible for CBLP will also be supported by a further payment of up to £4,500 under the Local Restrictions Support Grant, depending on rateable value. This is intended to cover the period up and including Friday, 12 February 2021.

Businesses closed under Tier 4 - we are also contacting businesses that were required to close from Saturday, 19 December by email so we can make payments under the Tier 4 grant scheme. We will then make a payment to these businesses to cover the period up to and including Friday, 12 February 2021.

We will only ask you if you were trading as of Saturday, 19 December 2020 and that you comply with state aid rules. We will not require your bank details as we already have this information. No fresh application will be required while these businesses are obliged to remain closed.

Businesses required to close under Tier 4 will automatically receive their one-off CBLP payment of up to £9,000 provided they have responded to our email confirming that they were trading when those restrictions came into force.

Skills Support for your business and workforce in Bedfordshire

There are a number of fully funded skills training programmes available:

Skills Support for the Workforce is a programme developed to upskill employees and provide recognised accredited qualifications and bespoke training courses to enhance your employees skills, increase the competitiveness of your business.
The Skills Support for Redundancy programme can provide you with funded support which will ensure your employees get access to bespoke training to support them to find suitable employment or their next career.

Your local Partnership Co-ordinator will work with you to identify the best support available and for more information please get in touch with the team.

Last chance to apply for the Recovery and Resilience grant
The Recovery and Resilience Grants Scheme has been launched to support local businesses to help create employment opportunities, it also offers match funding to businesses to invest in:

New technologies
Plant equipment or machinery
Fund land or premises growth

The grants of between £5,000 to £50,000 are designed to build business resilience by supporting investment projects that will create a significant impact for businesses.

The deadline is fast approaching, Thursday 28th January.

Apply for Customs Grants funding
Find out what you can apply for to get funding for recruitment, employee training, IT and training projects.

Have your say on Council budget proposals
Each winter, we refresh the budget proposals which includes proposals for Council Tax in 2021/22. In the next financial year (from April 2021 until March 2022), we expect to be spending £402million on services. This is known as the revenue budget and is largely funded by council tax and business rates.

To bridge the gap between what we need and what we anticipate in terms of income, we propose an overall increase in Council Tax for Central Bedfordshire Council of 4.95%:

3% of this increase would be only used to support social care services for vulnerable adults,
1.95% of this increase would be used to support the Council’s other services.

For further details and to have your say on budget consultation, please visit the website before 27 January 2021 (5pm).

Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage Grants: Apply now
The second round of funding is to support cultural organisations with the costs they will face as they welcome back visitors in the early summer. This round will offer grants of between £10,000 and £3m to support organisations to make the transition towards full reopening. The fund will be open for applications from 7 January 2021 until 26 January 2021.

Previous funding recipients in our area have been Warden Abbey and Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth Remembrance Trust. See the guidelines for more information.

EU Transition: New rules are here

The UK has left the EU and new rules now apply. Doing business with Europe has changed, so to keep your business moving, you need to follow new rules on exports, imports, tariffs, data and hiring.

Use the UK Government’s EU Exit checker to get a personalised list of actions for your business and your family.

Be ambitious. Be connected. BeCentralBedfordshire

website: www.becentralbedfordshire.co.uk

email: [email protected]

twitter: @BeCentralBeds