Business Rates - Reductions, Exemptions and Discounts

IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ

Business Grants

Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG6)

The Council has created a new Additional Restrictions Grant policy based on Government guidance, which will provide additional support to businesses who have been severely impacted by Covid restrictions and uncertainty caused by the Omicron variant, including those outside of the business rates system.

The scheme is open for applications from Friday 21 January 2022 and closes on Friday 4 February 2022 at 4 pm.

Please note this discretionary grant scheme is separate from the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant. We will be contacting those eligible businesses separately by email.  

All businesses will have to complete the secure ARG6 online application form by clicking on the link below.

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY FOR ARG 6 IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE OMICRON HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE GRANT

ARG 6 Application Link

Eligibility

To be eligible, a business must fall into one of the following sectors:

(a) Hospitality, Accommodation and Leisure for businesses outside of the business rates system only;

(b) Personal care;

(c) Travel and tourism including group travel, travel agents and tour operators, coach operators;

(d) Wedding industries;

(e) Nightclubs;

(f) Theatres;

(g) Events Industries;

(h) Wholesalers;

(i) English Language Schools;

(j) Breweries;

(k) Freelance and Mobile businesses (including caterers, events, hair, beauty and wedding related businesses);

(l) Gyms;

(m) other businesses that may not have received other grants funding;

Please note: All applications will be validated and a determination made as to whether the business is eligible for a grant and how much. We are required to undertake robust pre-payment verification checks for this grant, and are unable to make any payments until they are complete. No payments will be made until the application deadline of Friday 4 February 2022 has passed and all applications have been assessed.

Please do not contact us during this time. You will be notified once we are able to make a payment.

Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) Scheme 6 Policy

Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant

On 21 December 2021, Government announced the introduction of grant support for hospitality and leisure businesses in England. See announcement here:

COVID-19 business grant funding schemes: guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK

Update 21 January 2022

We are aiming to go live with applications week commencing the 24th January 2022

Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG5)

Updated 21 January 2022

The application window has now closed. The verification process has now been completed and we are aiming to process payments the week commencing the 24th January 2022