Cheshire East starts handing out grants to help businesses during COVID-19 crisis

Cheshire East Council has started to roll out almost £90 million of Covid-19 business grant funding to local firms.

Around 8,000 businesses in the borough are eligible to receive grants of either £10,000 or £25,000 under a government scheme totalling nearly £90m across Cheshire East.

The aim is to support local businesses in response to the significant financial impact of coronavirus/Covid-19.

Eligible businesses, who have registered bank account details with the council, have started to receive their grant funding – via automatic bank transfer – from today.

Councillor Amanda Stott, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for finance, IT and communications, said: “This is incredibly important grant funding and it offers a crucial lifeline to our local businesses during the significant challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The grant money was only released by government to local authorities last Wednesday and I want to thank council officers for turning this round quickly and efficiently so that grants could start being distributed to our businesses by the following Monday.

“Cheshire East has one of the largest and most vibrant business sectors in the country and fantastic entrepreneurs – and I am proud that Cheshire East Council is playing its part in helping to support them and protect our local economy and jobs.”

Two new grant schemes are being funded by the government in response to the pandemic, which cover three scenarios:

● A small business grant fund of £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief
● Grant funding of £10,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property – where the rateable value is below £15,000
● Grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property – where the rateable value is between £15,000 and less than £51,000.

Receiving a government business grant is a free and automatic service.

For businesses that do not pay business rates by direct debit or qualify for small business rate relief, the council does not hold any bank details and will be unable to make grant payments via cheque.

Those businesses are advised to register bank details online at cheshireeast.gov.uk/business and then clicking on the ‘information for employers and business about Covid-19’ link.

Anyone with questions about the grant schemes should visit the Covid-19 business pages at cheshireeast.gov.uk/business

Cheshire East Council has also launched a new job matching service to help people, who are temporarily not working, find jobs in key roles where support is needed.

For more information on this, and about financial support during the Covid-19 outbreak, visit the council website at cheshireeast.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/council_information/coronavirus/covid-19-and-financial-support.aspx