Thousands of Humber businesses are missing out on coronavirus cash grants.
Support agencies are now urging them to apply for all the funding they are eligible for - with up to 4,800 organisations currently leaving themselves out of pocket.
The Government has set up two schemes - a grant of up to £10,000 for small businesses operating in all sectors that are in receipt of small business or rural business rate relief, and a grant of up to £25,000 for those in the leisure, retail and hospitality sectors.
Both are available to cover overheads through their local authorities – but despite a positive response, a large proportion of businesses in the Humber still haven’t applied for the money that can be received in days.
By Friday across the four Humber local authorities, £218 million had been made available from the Government.
It was launched to support through lockdown, when income has drastically reduced for many businesses and cashflow pressures have become a real issue.
Many businesses are using the grant to cover rent, wages, stock and utilities costs, and eligible businesses that are still trading through the lockdown are still entitled to the grant.
Lord Chris Haskins, chair of the Humber LEP, said: “The Government’s Business Rates Cash Grants are available to both small businesses and leisure, retail and hospitality businesses across the Humber, whether they have had to close or not.
“We all know how hard businesses are being hit by the measures we are living under to stop the spread of coronavirus. At this difficult time, we know it’s not at the forefront of a business owner’s mind to take on more work filling out extra paperwork, but this application is different – for the sake of a few minutes giving basic details, eligible businesses can secure a much-needed grant that their competitors may already have received.
“We want to ensure all businesses in our region are getting the help they are both entitled and eligible for in these extremely challenging trading conditions.”
Tips to help get your cash grant as soon as possible include:
- Having the most up-to-date paperwork on hand
- Passing on the correct bank and business details to your local authority
- Contacting the local authority where your business is based
The LEP’s Humber Business Growth Hub has partnered up with the four Humber local authorities to produce a useful guidance document that explains the grant eligibility and application process in more detail, which can be downloaded here.
It still has further support available in finance and advice form.
The hub has grants available for ITC equipment to support homeworking, as well grants for financial services and other specialist advisors. These grants will cover 40 per cent of a business’s overall costs.
The advisor network is also supporting businesses across all four local authorities, with an email then call back service via growth.hub@humberlep.org.
Several webinars are also planned, covering finance and support.
