‘Restart’ grants to help businesses
BUSINESSES across West Berkshire will be able to access ‘Restart’ grants of up to £18,000.
The Government funding will be distributed by West Berkshire Council.
The grants, which are available to businesses in the retail, hospitality, leisure, accommodation, personal care and gym industries which have had to close, replace the previous Local Restrictions Support Grants.
They will be distributed by the council from Thursday, April 1.
The grants aim to assist businesses with costs and adaptations relating to reopening in line with the Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Roadmap.
Grants will be distributed automatically, so businesses will not be required to reapply unless they have not received grant funding from the council under previous schemes.
As the grants apply to the period from April 1, no funds will be released until after this date.
The grants will be distributed in two strands as follows:
Strand one – non-essential retail:
Businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under will receive a payment of £2,667
Businesses with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive a payment of £4,000
Businesses with a rateable value of exactly £51,000 or over will receive a payment of £6,000
Strand Two – hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses:
Businesses with a rateable value of exactly £15,000 or under will receive a payment of £8,000
Businesses with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive a payment of £12,000
Businesses with a rateable value of exactly £51,000 or over will receive a payment of £18,000
Issuing the grants is one of a number of ways in which West Berkshire Council will be assisting businesses with their economic recovery.
Others include access to twice-weekly rapid testing for employees, downloadable resources for display in premises, and one-to-one advice through the Public Protection Partnership.
More information is available on the council’s website at https://info.westberks.gov.uk/coronavirus-business
The council’s executive member for finance and economic development Ross Mackinnon (Con, Bradfield) said: “After a really difficult year, it will be a relief to local businesses to be able to start planning to reopen and to welcome their customers back.
“Although local cases are falling and the vaccination programme is progressing well, the fact remains that we need to remain careful in order to stop the spread of the virus. This funding will help businesses to adapt to trading in this new environment in a safe and successful way.
“As we have been throughout the pandemic, we stand ready to help our businesses and are strongly committed to getting funds out to them as quickly as we possibly can because we know just how needed this money will be.”