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Status: Live
We are pleased to announce that on Tuesday the first daily tranche of payments were issued for the business support grants. These were payments for 422 applicants totalling at over £5m. As of yesterday over 1,750 applicants have applied in total, more than half of the 3,000 we estimate are eligible for the grants.
Each payment will be sent by BACS transfer, a process which takes 3 working days. For those in Tuesday's transfer, this will mean money entering your bank account by today. For payments issued on Wednesday and today, applicants may not receive the grant until Tuesday (14 April) after the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Some applications will take a little longer before the payments are issued. Please do not contact us about progress as this will simply slow down payments, as staff will have to divert from processing these to responding to your question. If we need to contact you about the information provided in your application we will do so. We thank you again for your patience.
For those yet to apply, you can do so via our application form.
Status: Live
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) has been amended to make it easier for additional smaller businesses to access the funding they need. Key changes are:
- Previously, many smaller businesses met the requirements for a non-CBILS commercial loan with less favourable terms, and so would not have been eligible for CBILS. Access to the scheme has now been opened up to include these smaller businesses too.
- Lenders can no longer ask borrowers to put a personal guarantee (such as savings, their house or other assets) for the CBILS, lenders can only apply this to loans above £250,000 or to their own (non-CBILS) commercial loans.
The minimum amount you can borrow will differ between lenders, the lowest of the four major banks is RBS starting at £5,000. Interest rates will vary by lender so make sure you shop around, the Government will pay the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied charges.
Further details are available through the British Business Bank. Businesses are advised to get in contact with a lender directly if they wish to apply, preferably online.
The loans are the main way for businesses to access immediate Government support until the Job Retention Scheme and Self Employment Income Support Scheme are operational at the end of April and beginning of June respectively.
Status: Live
Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, irrespective of rateable value, will receive 100% retail relief for 2020/21. This relief has also been applied to pubs, estate agents, lettings agencies and bingo halls.
There is no action for you. We have rebilled all affected businesses to incorporate this relief.
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