Northumberland businesses urged to apply for lockdown grants after Chancellor unveils £4.6bn support package

The Government has announced £4.6bn in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs through to the spring.

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will receive a one-off top up grant worth up to £9,000 per property.

This follows the Prime Minister’s announcement that these businesses will be closed until at least February half-term, in order to help control the spread of coronavirus.

Cllr Nick Oliver, cabinet member for corporate resources at Northumberland County Council, said: “We know that this new period of Covid-19 restrictions is a further devastating blow for business owners, and I would reassure them that we will continue to do everything we can to provide support, including through these new one-off grant payments.

“We have already paid out over £90m in total to support businesses in Northumberland, and continue to process and pay out business support grants from the previous lockdown and Tiers 3 and 4 periods. I urge business owners to ensure that they continue to apply for all of the funding that is available to them.

“We will provide as much information and guidance as we can through our dedicated Business Hub – please check www.northumberland.gov.uk/businesshub for details.

“We must all do everything that we can to prevent the spread of this new strain of the coronavirus, whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, and I urge everyone to follow all of the guidance.”

Government has said that the one-off top-up grant for closed businesses will be as follows:

* £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under;

* £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000;

* £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak also announced that £594m discretionary fund will also be made available to support other impacted businesses.

The Government will be providing guidance to the council on how these grants should be paid, and as soon as this is available processes will be put in place to get them paid out to eligible businesses as quickly as possible.

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