Discretionary Grant Fund Widened to Support More Businesses & Self-Employed
Businesses and the self-employed in Kirklees could benefit from the expansion of the Covid-19 Discretionary Grant scheme administered by Kirklees Council.
This money is now being used by the council to widen the eligibility criteria, meaning that more businesses and self-employed residents could benefit.
The Discretionary Grant provides financial help to self-employed residents such as taxi drivers and home-based businesses as well as businesses that have been legally required to close from 5 November 2020, but are not registered for business rates, such as daily licence market traders selling non-essential goods.
Those businesses that have remained open but have been severely impacted by Covid restrictions, like childcare providers, can also claim help under the scheme.
The changes will see top-up payments of up to £9,000 for eligible businesses to match the Closed Business Lockdown Payments announced by the Chancellor as a result of the latest national lockdown. Self-employed applicants will no longer have to demonstrate that they have not received other government financial support, and payments will be increased. Taxi drivers could also receive up to £1,000 for using Covid-secure working practices.
Other government grants are still available to claim, including Christmas support for pubs that predominately sell alcohol. The application closing date for the ‘wet-led pub’ payment has recently been extended to midnight on 28 February 2021.
For the latest information about business grants, and to apply, go to www.kirklees.gov.uk/coronavirusbusiness
Mark Eastwood MP for Dewsbury, welcomed the announcement:
"Since the start of the pandemic, I have been calling on the Council to be as flexible as possible in delivering the discretionary support to local businesses and I am pleased that the scheme has been widened to allow more businesses and self-employed people across Kirklees to benefit from this Government funding including taxi-drivers. I would like to thank Officers at the Council for their hard work in rolling-out the schemes so far and I encourage anyone who feels they are now eligible to apply via the Kirklees Website."
