We received the national guidance this week and have been moving fast to get our grant schemes up and running, ready for businesses to apply for much needed financial support.
There are two grant schemes that will be available for businesses: the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) scheme which is based on rateable value for businesses that have had to close; and a discretionary scheme, which you may have heard referred to as the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme. More details about these schemes can be found here. We have been allocated £4 million for the LRSG and £5 million for the ARG.
Our team has been working all week to set up the application process for the LRSG scheme so that our online application will go live next week. We will issue detailed guidelines, FAQs and advice about how our process will operate at the same time.
Details of the discretionary (ARG) scheme will follow shortly, as we first want to better understand the demand and gaps where additional support will be needed for our Plymouth businesses. We will be consulting closely with business organisations before launching the scheme. We already know that the £5 million that we have been allocated from the Government won’t be enough and we want to make sure that we make best use of the money that is available to us in a way that provides meaningful support.
Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council said: “The Council did an amazing job back in April in getting over £47 million to businesses who needed it as quickly as possible, working closely with the FSB and the Chamber of Commerce. This brilliant team have been working hard all week to ensure that the money gets to those people who need it as quickly as possible. Whilst it is really good news that those businesses who have been told to close will be supported, I am really concerned that the discretionary grant for those businesses who have not been told to formally close will simply not be enough.”
Please continue to check the Invest Plymouth business grants page for updates and information, and look out for further updates which we’ll issue as soon as more detail is available across our networks.