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ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Borough Council is urging business owners to apply for the grants that they are entitled to.

There are four grants currently available but the number of applications has been extremely low. The government has given the council more than £3.7m to distribute but any money that isn’t spent will be sent back.

There are different types of grants based on the rateable value of property/property costs or business type. The grants are:

• Additional Restrictions Grant
• Local Restrictions Support Grant (closed)
• Local Restrictions Support Grant (open)
• Christmas grants for ‘wet-led’ pubs

Additional Restrictions Grants are for businesses that were affected by the lockdown but are not legally required to close. This funding lasts until March 2022.

The previous round ended with the council receiving just 253 applications, including 241 from taxi drivers.

Applications have reopened and must be submitted before 10 January 2021.

Eligible businesses are those who:

• Are not entitled to Local Restriction Support Grants (were not mandated to close), and
• Were open and trading the day before national restrictions were imposed (Wednesday 4 November), and
• Can prove that they were severely impacted by the restrictions

Businesses can check if they’re eligible for the Additional Restrictions Grant by visiting the .

Local Restrictions Support Grants (closed) are for businesses that pay business rates and had to close during the second lockdown from 5 November to 2 December. 159 businesses have received this grant to date.

The rate of payment for eligible businesses is:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, grants are £1,334
• For properties with a rateable value of more than £15,000 and below £51,000, grants are £2,000
• For properties with a rateable value of £51,000 or over, grants are £3,000

Only £269,706 of Local Restrictions Support Grants has been paid from funding of more than £1.4m.

Local Restrictions Support Grants (open) are for leisure and hospitality businesses that have been financially impacted due to Tier 2 restrictions since 2 December.

The rate of payment for eligible businesses is:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, grants are £467
• For properties with a rateable value of more than £15,000 and below £51,000, grants are £700
• For properties with a rateable value of £51,000 or over, grants are £1,050

Christmas grants of £1,000 for ‘wet-led’ pubs are for pubs that had to close due to regional restrictions. Five pubs have benefited from this so far.

To apply, your pub must be based in ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾, earn less than 50 per cent of income from food and had to close due to regional restrictions introduced on 2 December. Only the business rates payer can apply.

Applications for all four grants can be made via the .

There is further guidance and a copy of the West Sussex countywide policy on .  

For more details on help available for businesses visit our coronavirus information pages.