Last chance for businesses to apply for grants

BUSINESSES in West Berkshire that have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic have just a couple of weeks left to apply for funding.

The Government’s Small Business Grants Fund, the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund and the Discretionary Grants Fund will all end on August 28.

Applications for the Discretionary Grant have already closed and West Berkshire Council is now urging any businesses that believe they may be eligible for either grant to contact it immediately as applications received by August 23 can still be processed to meet the August 28 deadline.

To date, the council has paid almost £28.3m worth of grants to 2,199 businesses.

West Berkshire’s executive member for finance and economic development Ross Mackinnon said: “We’ve worked hard to ensure that as many businesses in West Berkshire as possible have benefitted from these grants.

“We are now in the final stages of this important programme and we don’t want any business that may be eligible to miss out.

“The grants have been invaluable to our local economy helping ensure the survival of shops, cafés, hotels, restaurants and many other businesses.

“Although the majority of businesses have claimed, there is a small amount of time for others to make a claim and we urge them to take advantage of this opportunity.”

The council’s economic development officer Gabrielle Mancini said: “We’ve done our best to get these grants out as quickly as possible and around a quarter of all the registered businesses in West Berkhire have now received a grant.

“We’ve had a lot of feedback from local businesses, saying ‘thank you for getting the money out so quickly, it was an absolute lifeline and we may have folded without it’.

“The Government scheme is closing soon and we want to make sure that everyone who is entitled to the money receives it.”

Further details about the grant schemes can be found at www.gov.uk/guidance/checkif-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-small-business-grantfund

For more information, email BRatesgrants@westberks. gov.uk