Grants & funding

COVID-19 - Business funding and grants support

Business can check if they are eligible for a coronavirus grant on the government’s business webpage.

Please contact BusinessGrants@hart.gov.uk with any queries.

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National Restriction Support Grant (16 Feb to 31 March 2021)

For businesses that started up after 16 Feb and are registered for business rates:

if your business has a property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less, you may be eligible for a cash grant of £2,096 for this 44-day qualifying restrictions period
if your business has a property with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000, you may be eligible for a cash grant of £3,143 for this 44-day qualifying restrictions period
if your business has a property with a rateable value of £51,000 or above, you may be eligible for a cash grant of £4,714 for this 44-day qualifying restrictions period.

This scheme closes on 31 May 2021.

Apply for the National Restriction Support Grant:

Restart Grant (main scheme)

The Government has announced the introduction of grant support for non-essential retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England from 1 April 2021.

Under the Restart Grant scheme, local authorities will receive funding to be allocated in one-off grants to businesses which pay business rates:

Grants of up to £6,000 (Strand 1) will be paid to non-essential retail business premises to help them reopen safely.
Grants of up to £18,000 (Strand 2) will be allocated to hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym business premises, which may open later under plans set out in the roadmap and will be more impacted by restrictions when they do reopen.
The Restart Grant scheme supports businesses that are predominantly reliant on delivering in-person services for the general public

Eligibility and payment

All business will need to apply for this grant, including those that have previously received funding; the Council must be satisfied that businesses continue to meet the eligibility criteria. In addition, pre-grant fraud checks will be carried out.This is a stricter position than that taken for previous COVID-19 business support grant schemes and will take longer to process as a result.

For more information on the scheme and eligibility, please visit the Government’s Restrictions Grant website.

Application process

Apply for the Restart Grant:

Please do not apply for the Additional Restrictions Grant (Discretionary Restart scheme) below if you pay business rates.

The application closure date for this scheme is 30 June 2021.

Additional Restrictions Grant (Discretionary Restart scheme)

The Government has announced that further funding will be made available for the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme from 1 April 2021. There are two levels - £1000 and £3000. You can read further information in our Discretionay Restart Grant policy.

The ARG funding scheme aims to support businesses that are severely impacted by restrictions, and that may or may not be in the business rates system.

For more information on the scheme and eligibility, please visit the Government’s Additional Restrictions Grant website.

Application process

Applications are now open for this scheme until 0900 Monday 17 May 2021.

Please have the following information to hand before applying:

Name of Business
Business Trading Address including postcode
Registered Address including postcode (if applicable)
National Insurance Number
Unique identifier (preferably Company Reference Number (CRN)) if applicable. If not applicable, VAT Registration Number, Self-Assessment/Partnership Number, National Insurance Number, Unique Taxpayer Reference, Registered Charity Number will also be acceptable)
High level SIC Code – you can find this information at Standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Nature of Business
Date business established
Number of employees
Business Rates Number (if applicable)
Cumulative total of previous funding received under all COVID-19 grants schemes

Apply for the Additional Restrictions Grant:

I have received ARG funding previously, do I need to reapply?

Yes - all applicants for this scheme need to reapply.

Other councils do not require applications, why do I need to apply again?

The Government requires us to collect additional information for this grant that we did not obtain from you previously.

How much am I going to receive?

If you have fixed costs such as rent you may be eligible to a grant of £3,000. If you are a homeworker with no fixed costs you may be eligible for £1,000.

What information is acceptable to prove that I pay rent to a 3rd Party?

You will need to provide your current lease / rental agreement or similar.

I do not have a bank account in the name of my business?

That is ok. However, you must ensure that you can provide a link between the name on the bank statement and your business.

What if my business is based in Hart but I live outside of the district?

That is ok. But you must provide evidence that your business is based within Hart, for example a copy of insurance documents that shows the Hart address where your business is based.

What are your rules on grant payments to taxi drivers?

Our policy on taxi drivers is that you must live within Hart District. If you are registered by Hart but live outside of the district you will not be eligible.

Can I get backdated payments from the earlier ARG 1, ARG 2 or ARG 3 schemes?

NO – these schemes are now closed, and payments will not be backdated.

I have more than one business within Hart, can I apply for a separate grant for each business?

No. The policy of the Council is that we will only pay one Discretionary Restart Grant per individual or business, irrespective of how many businesses they own.

Closed schemes

Local Restrictions Support Grant for Hospitality and Leisure businesses adversely affected between 2 – 25 December
Local Restrictions Support Grant (for businesses forced to close 5 Nov-1 Dec AND from 26 Dec-5 Jan)
The Additional Restrictions Grant (Phase 2)
The Additional Restrictions Grant (Phase 3 )
The Christmas Support Payment for Wet-Led Pubs

Additional business support

Further funding and support schemes

Business Rates Holiday for Nurseries: Nurseries in England do not have to pay business rates for the 2020-2021 tax year.

Bounce Back Loan: The scheme helps small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of their turnover. The maximum loan available is £50,000. The government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.

Self-employment Income Support Scheme: Self-employed individuals or members of partnerships whose business has been adversely affected by coronavirus will be able to apply for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme: This scheme will help businesses affected by coronavirus to access bank lending and overdrafts if they need to. For loans up to £5 million, the Government is providing a guarantee of 80% for each loan.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Under the coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers with a PAYE scheme will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees' salary for those that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.

Statutory Sick Pay Rebate: The Government will bring forward legislation to allow small and medium-sized businesses to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for staff sickness absence due to coronavirus.

Support for Businesses Paying Tax: All businesses and self employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC's Time to Pay service.

VAT Deferral: We will support businesses by deferring Valued Added Tax (VAT) payments for 3 months.

Income Tax Deferral for the Self-Employed: If you are self-employed, Income Tax payments due in July 2020 under the Self-Assessment system will be deferred to January 2021.

Support for Businesses Paying Tax: All businesses and self- employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC's Time To Pay service.

COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility: The new COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) means that the Bank of England will buy short-term debt from larger companies.

Deferral of Self-Assessment payment: The Self-Assessment payment on account, this is ordinarily due to be paid to HMRC by 31 July 2020 may now be deferred until January 2021.

Frequently asked questions- Here you can find a full list of FAQs provided by GOV.UK.

Arts Council England - £160 million of emergency funding available for those organisations and individuals.

There are a number of organisations who provide help and information about different grants or funding schemes that are out there to help your business, as well as providing other general advice for businesses.

The GOV.UK website provides a range of information on grants, finance and loans, and business support such as mentoring, consultancy and funding for small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups.

Business advice organisations and support

The British Business Bank is 100% Government owned, but independently managed, and brings expertise and Government money to the smaller business finance markets. They do not lend or invest directly. Instead, they work with over 80 partners such as banks, leasing companies and web-based platforms to make finance markets work better for small businesses in the UK.
Enterprise South provide businesses help with writing a business plan, securing funding and scaling, as well as general advice. The services they offer include:
- A business toolkit which offers a host of documents that are free for you to use.
- Help to apply for funding by working with Virgin Start Up Loans.
- Providing pre and post start support to businesses that have plans for growth, as a delivery partner for the Start and Grow programme.
- Free advice and mentoring sessions in Hampshire.
- Help to find a new office or workspace in your local area.

Businesses located in Hart can take advantage of the Hart Business Support Service funded by Hart District Council.

Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator - the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership has announced a new £5.5 million funding scheme, aimed at businesses in the early stages who have the potential of high growth and are likely to provide jobs in the area. They aim to drive the economic growth of the area by working with businesses, key delivery partners and central government.
J4B Grants provide information on all the latest European grants, UK Government grants and other sources of funding to help start and grow your business.
Bright Ideas Fund supports new community business ideas through the start up and planning stages with tailored business support, to the implementation stage with grants of up to £15,000.
A Start Up Loan is a government-backed personal loan available to individuals looking to start or grow a business in the UK. In addition to finance, successful applicants receive 12 months of free mentoring and exclusive business offers to help them succeed.
Startups is the UK’s leading independent, online resource for anyone starting or growing a business.
Fredericks Foundation is open to anyone who has a viable business proposition but cannot obtain mainstream finance. Start-ups can attain a maximum of £15,000. For established businesses with a financial track record of at least three years, the maximum loan is £35,000.GRANTfinder
GRANTfinder is Europe’s leading provider of grants and policy information and has been providing support to UK organisations since 1985. It is a user-friendly, accurate, and professional funding tool, which has helped its users to facilitate the securing of millions of pounds’ worth of support.
Grants Online is trusted by hundreds of organisations to keep them up to date with the latest funding opportunities. By providing up to date grant funding information, alerts and newsletters, they help businesses maximise funding potential.
TechRound is an online news site covering news and developments in UK start-ups, entrepreneurs, tech businesses as well as digital government policies and developments across politics affecting the digital and tech industries in the UK and beyond. With regular articles, insights, interviews and how-to-guides. Tech Round are always open to collaborations and news releases from other writers and journalists as well as media comments and appearances.