Decision details

The Cabinet Member:

1.    Approved the additional payment of grants as requested by government and as set out by the full guidance provided by government departments including the additional categories as referred to in paragraphs 7.4 to 7.5 under the councils discretionary powers;

2. Instructed officers to ensure that the payments are processed in accordance with the agreed schemes for the qualifying properties and rebilling takes place at the earliest opportunity and that any further categories as advised by government to be included within the scheme are also processed at the earliest opportunity;

Due to the coronavirus outbreak the government have over the last few Months, commencing with the chancellors budget on 11^th March with further updates more recently, made significant changes to the level of support they are providing to business within certain sectors.

As the major reliefs are again for one year only the Government is not changing the primary legislation covering the reliefs available to properties. Instead the Government will, in line with the eligibility criteria set out in the guidance, reimburse local authorities that use their discretionary relief powers, under section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (as amended) to grant relief. The reimbursement to authorities will be provided by payments to be credited to the general fund with grants under section 31 of the Local government Act 2003.

The effect of the various announcements has resulted in the following additions to grants and reliefs already approved for 2020/21:

Cash Grants

Following the implementation of the BEIS Grants (approved in April) the Government has allocated the Council further funding for allocation to businesses based on the criterion set out in Appendix A.

At a high level this sets out that the Council will prioritise grant payments to those organisations who fit within the policy intentions of Central Government and who occupy the following property types:

·         Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces

·         Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent who do not have their own business rate assessment.  The Council would consider these to be traders with a current rental agreement of no less than 6 months. 

·         Bed & Breakfast accommodation which pay Council Tax instead of Business Rates. 

·         Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief. 

If funding remains after the initial allocations to those sectors in paragraph 10 it will then be allocated to businesses and charities in the following 2 areas: 

·         Businesses and charities  who have supported the Council with its delivery of Coronavirus support to local communities

·         Businesses and charities who support and/or supply the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors but who are not eligible for grant funding under those schemes

There will be a defined timeline for receipt of applications under this scheme, applications will not be permitted after the window has closed:

·         Applications open – 15/06/2020

·         Application window closed – 26/06/2020

For all the grants the respective government departments are providing detailed guidance covering all aspects of the measure including eligibility criteria, funding arrangements, reconciliation processes etc which to be followed when implementing the grant payment.

None have been considered as there are no other realistic options to deal with this issue.

None.

There are no additional documents.