Pledge to help struggling Hull businesses survive second lockdown
CITY council leader Steve Brady says the authority will pull out all the stops to help businesses hit by the second coronavirus lockdown.
The council has been given government funding to operate a grant regime for firms forced to close under the current restrictions.
Payments will be made to eligible businesses from next Monday.
Councillor Brady said: “The council responded well to this during the first wave.
“We got one of the highest amounts of money out to the business community in the country and it was pretty seamless.
“Now we are in this new phase of lockdown we will be supporting all those businesses once again to help them get through this crisis and hopefully recover in the long term.”
Businesses need to have a rateable value and be registered for business rates to receive the grant.
Monthly grants will range from £1,334 to £3,000 depending on the rateable value of the business property.
It’s expected most of the grants will be taken up by firms in the city’s hospitality sector, which has been hit hard by the latest lockdown.
In addition, the council will also issue discretionary grants to struggling businesses through a separate government-funded scheme which has provided a total of £5m for Hull.
This will be paid to firms severely impacted by lockdown, but still able to trade and businesses which have closed but do not pay business rates.
They include supply chain and wholesale businesses.
More information on the discretionary grant is expected to be released next week.