The Government has provided more than £12 billion to local authorities in England to support businesses through the coronavirus outbreak.
Maidstone and Swale Borough Councils have been allocated over £60 million to support up to 4,813 businesses identified as being in need at this time.
I'm pleased that 1,206 businesses in Swale and 775 businesses in Maidstone have already received grants as part of the Government’s Small Business Grants Scheme. In total, almost £22 million has made its way to small businesses in these areas.
In recognition of the extraordinary pressures facing small businesses during the coronavirus outbreak, the Government launched the Small Business Grants Scheme, backed by £12.3 billion.
The funding is provided to local authorities, who are then able to offer grants of up to £10,000 to small businesses, and up to £25,000 for eligible leisure, retail and hospitality businesses. Since the Scheme’s launch in March, £6.1 billion has already been paid to 491,725 business properties across England, including 1,981 businesses in Swale and Maidstone.
The Government is providing a huge and unprecedented package of support to help small businesses during the coronavirus outbreak, including:
- Helping to pay people’s wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, including for more than a million people who are employed by the 140,000 businesses which applied for the scheme in the first day alone
- Introducing the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to provide loans of up to £5 million, interest free for 12 months, to small businesses
- Taking all retail, leisure and hospitality businesses out of business rates altogether for the next year
- Helping small and medium-sized businesses with the cost of paying Statutory Sick Pay for employees off because of coronavirus
More information on support available can be found on my website here.
