Trafford Council has started making grant payments to local businesses to help them deal with the impact of coronavirus.
As announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the end of last month, businesses operating in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England are now eligible for cash grants from the government during the period of disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The grants apply to businesses with a rateable value of under £51,000 and Trafford Council is now working hard to process these and make payments to eligible businesses as soon as possible. Grants are also available to small businesses in receipt of business rates relief.
Eligible businesses that currently pay business rates by direct debit will receive the grants automatically from this week. Businesses that do not already pay by direct debit will shortly receive an application letter or can complete an online grant application form.
In order to enable the Business Rates team to process grants to businesses as quickly as possible, for a short period phone lines will be closed, but the team can be contacted by email on business.rates@trafford.gov.uk.
Once the majority of business rates grants have been paid, the focus will switch to rebilling businesses to apply the 12-month business rates holiday that will apply to eligible retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in 2020/21.
Cllr Tom Ross, Trafford Council’s Executive member for Finance and Investment, said:
The Business Rates team has been working incredibly hard to get grants to businesses as a matter of urgency. We are fully aware of the unprecedented effect the current shutdown has had on the finances of many of our local businesses, and intend to get the cash they need to them as soon as possible.
While the phone lines are closed for a short period to enable us to focus on this task, businesses should rest assured that emails will still be answered to deal with any other queries.”
Posted on Monday 6th April 2020