Councillor Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council and portfolio holder for Economic Development, shares an update on the support that the Council has delivered to businesses this week, and the focus for the coming week.
Business Grants
This week we have continued to get business grant payments processed and out to businesses as quickly as possible. And we’ve now paid over half of all grant applications expected, with £23million paid directly into business bank accounts.
That’s:
- 2,716 applications received
- 2,256 applications successfully processed
- 1,915 businesses paid
Our focus for the next week will be to make contact with those eligible businesses who haven’t yet applied and to support those who have had issues with their applications to get all of our grant payments out to the businesses who need them as quickly as possible.
Our business grant helpline has been doing a sterling job and has taken over 1,600 calls since it opened just over a week ago.
Fishing Industry
This week we’ve been fighting for our fishing industry. We’ve written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to lobby for urgent additional support for fishing. Fishing is a key sector, not only to the Plymouth economy where it supports over 2,000 jobs, but also to many communities across the South West peninsula.
Call 4 Fish, an idea started in Plymouth and supported by Plymouth City Council, has now gone nationwide and we’re calling for more Government support to help the fishing sector avoid collapse. We’ve outlined 4 key areas for support, which you can see here.
Lobbying for more business support
We’re continuing to lobby with our partners to plug the gaps for support for small businesses.
The key issues for this cover support for the businesses who fall just outside of the eligibility criteria, such as businesses in managed workspaces who would otherwise be eligible for the Small Business Rate Relief scheme. This is nearly 400 businesses in Plymouth, representing around 3,000 employees.
Other important areas of our lobbying include:
- Asking for support for businesses that only started trading recently, who do not have a 2018/19 tax return to satisfy HMRC rules.
- Those who are self-employed, whose first year of trading did not make enough profit in their 2018/19 tax return.
- The self-employed people who are in franchise agreements and who get no relief or payment holiday from their franchisor
- The directors of companies that draw a salary through a combination of PAYE and dividends and therefore are not eligible for the maximum £2,500 per month under the job retention scheme.
#ComeBackLater
Plymouth is supporting the call to ask Tourists not to visit during the Covid-19 pandemic and to #comebacklater. Our Visit Plymouth team has been sharing ways that you can enjoy Plymouth from your sofa with a range of virtual experiences, interactive worksheets and a digital Easter egg hunt to keep the kids entertained this Easter holiday. We’ve also launched an Easter competition to build your own Smeaton’s Tower at home out of household objects, so that you can still get your photo with our city’s iconic lighthouse, just from the safety of your own home! See all of the details on visitplymouth.co.uk and our social media channels Visit Plymouth and What’s On Plymouth
Looking ahead to next week
Next week we’ll continue our efforts to provide financial support to the businesses that need it through the grant scheme, through our lobbying and through supporting new ideas and initiatives to keep our businesses going.
Shop 4 Plymouth
We’re working to support our Plymouth retailers, and in coordination with the City Centre Business Improvement District are currently working on Shop 4 Plymouth, an initiative to promote the shops who are now providing online ordering and delivery services, so that you can shop from the comfort and safety of your home.