Council continues to support local businesses through Covid

Trafford Council is continuing to support more businesses through lockdown and Covid restrictions by extending its Discretionary Grant schemes.

The Trafford Discretionary Grant Fund (ARG) was launched to support businesses in shared workspaces and those which are part of or supply the leisure, hospitality, accommodation and personal care sectors with £2,000 per month.

The ARG scheme, which was launched in November 2020, has now been expanded to support more businesses across the borough. Applications are now invited from:

• Businesses across all sectors which are not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG).
• Self-employed businesses working from home.
• Medium sized businesses of importance to the local economy.
• Companies with backdated rateable valuations (RVs) in the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) categories.
• Hackney carriage and private hire drivers, licensed vehicle proprietors, and private hire operators that have been issued with their licence during 2020/2021; and new driver licence applications that have been received by the Council and are being processed.
• Street Traders issued with a licence in 2020/2021.

The Council continues to invite applications from businesses eligible under previous ARG rounds. Full details of how to apply and the eligibility criteria can be found on the Trafford Council website.

Cllr Tom Ross, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Finance and Governance, said:

"Since the beginning of Covid and though the various lockdowns, we have so far paid out almost £50m to local businesses which have been badly hit and forced to shut. As Covid related restrictions continue businesses still need our help.

I am delighted that businesses that have fallen between the cracks for government funding are now eligible to apply. Trafford’s businesses have been badly hit by Covid and deserve our support.

Applying for a grant is straightforward and I would urge businesses to check the eligibility criteria and get their applications and supporting evidence to the Council as soon as possible so we can process them quickly and deliver the support they need.”

The Trafford ARG Scheme will close to applications on 31March. The scheme will be reviewed thereafter.