From Thursday, 18 June, small businesses in Ealing will be able to apply for grants of up to £10,000 as part of the government’s local authority discretionary grants scheme.

The fund aims to aid small businesses which fell outside the scope of previous business grant schemes or who pay their business rates indirectly as part of their rent.

Ealing Council was allocated more than £3.3million in top-up funding from the government, which it will now distribute grants of up to £10,000 to qualifying business.

Funding criteria

In accordance with government guidelines, the council has set eligibility criteria for businesses in Ealing. In order to qualify businesses will need to:

1. have no more than 10 staff and a turnover between £100,000 and £499,000 annually
2. have ongoing, fixed building / trading premises related costs
3. have been trading on 11^th March 2020
4. occupy a property or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent/ mortgage payments below £51,000.
5. be able to demonstrate that it has suffered an income loss of 25% or more due to the COVID-19 crisis
6. be registered in and have a principle trading address within the London Borough of Ealing.  
7. not be in receipt of funding from either the government’s Covid-19 related grant schemes or Ealing Council’s Covid-19 Emergency fund

Businesses must be able to demonstrate that they meet all the criteria in order to be eligible.

Eligible businesses will have from Thursday, 18 June until Thursday, 2 July to apply for the discretionary grants. Any applications received outside this period will not be considered.

Applications will then be reviewed collectively by the council and priority will be given to businesses who pay the London Living wage of £10.75 per hour and those who are within shared or flexible workspaces.

Successful applicants will be required to work with the council to provide local employment opportunities in support of the local economy.

Councillor Jasbir Anand, cabinet member for business and community services, said: “We know that this funding is vital for so many local businesses. We have set criteria, in line with government guidelines, to ensure that as many small businesses as possible are able to benefit from the funds available.”

“If you missed out on previous government support, maybe because you rent or are in a serviced office, this fund is designed to help you.

“I urge those business who have not previously received funding to check if they are eligible and apply so that we can support you.”

“We know that this funding is not enough to mitigate the huge disruption caused to our businesses,” said Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for finance and leisure, “but we hope that it will go some way to ease the financial burden that so many small business are facing.”

Further details including the application form are available on the council’s website at www.ealing.gov.uk/discretionarygrants.