Small and micro businesses in Ealing are urged to check if they qualify for the latest and final round of discretionary grant funding available to help offset the hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Businesses have until 11pm on Friday, 28 August to submit an online application to the council before the government’s deadline for discretionary funding comes to an end.
For the final funding round the application criteria has opened-up to enable larger businesses to apply, this now includes businesses with up to 50 employees, with a turnover between £25,000 and £10.2million. Businesses must have began trading on or before 11 March. Businesses who qualify will receive grants of up to £25,000.
Businesses must be able to demonstrate that they have suffered a fall in income of at least 25% because of the COVID-19 crisis, however the requirement to prove financial loss has been further simplified for the third round with businesses only required to provide a statement of hardship.
As before, businesses do not need to be registered in the borough but must have a principle trading address in the borough and those that previously received funding from either the government’s COVID-19 related grant schemes or Ealing Council’s COVID-19 Emergency fund will not be eligible.
Grants will be awarded to eligible businesses or organisations on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
‘Could be the difference between staying afloat and going under’
Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for finance and leisure, said: “With the first rounds of Discretionary Grant funding we prioritised microbusiness who fell through the net, and I am pleased that we are now able to provide a lifeline to other small businesses in the borough which make up so much of our local economy.
“By opening up the scheme, we hope more businesses can be supported through this crisis. All of them employ staff and contribute to our community and for many this cash could be the difference between staying afloat and going under.”
‘We will continue to do all we can to support local businesses’
“The government has announced that this scheme will be ending soon and we want to ensure that every eligible business is able to benefit while this money is still available,” said Councillor Jasbir Anand, cabinet member for business and community services. “Any money not paid out to businesses by the end of August must be repaid to the government. That’s why I urge anyone who feels that their organisation may be eligible to act now to check the latest details on our website and apply for funding today.
“We will assess applications as they are submitted in order to allocate the grants as quickly as possible and we will continue to do all we can to support local businesses in Ealing through the pandemic.”
The government’s discretionary grant 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 has £3,342,500 in top-up funding from the government to distribute in grants of up to £25,000 to qualifying business.
For further details and to apply for funding visit www.ealing.gov.uk/discretionarygrants
