By Carole Dennett
It appears that the Government is planning to plug a loophole that meant that many small businesses missed out on a cash grant because they work from a shared office.
A petition to the Governmnet asking for help for affected businesses reached 22,500 signatures, demonstrating the level of frustration for many small businesses. The £617 million boost to the business support fund was announced yesterday. Full details of the terms of the grants will be confirmed over the next few days, but it is believed that it is planned to cover businesses in shared spaced, regular market traders and small charity properties. However it is known that businesses must be small with under 50 employees and must be able to demonstrate a significant drop in income due to the coronavirus restriction measures.
The official statement from BEIS read: ‘This is an additional 5% uplift to the £12.33bn funding previously announced for the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund, so up to £617m. We will confirm the exact amount for each local authority next week. Business Secretary Alok Sharma (pictured above) and the Minister for regional growth and local government minister Simon Clarke spoke to local authorities in England yesterday (May 2) about the £617 million fund.
