East Cambridgeshire District Council has published details of its fourth round of the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme to provide support to business sectors, who up until now, haven’t been eligible for support from other grant schemes.

Round four of the ARG scheme is designed to provide support to businesses who were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions in place from 16^th February 2021-12^th April 2021 and have not been eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) or Restart Grants.

The ARG is a discretionary funding scheme managed by the district council to support businesses during periods of lockdown relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grants will be made as a one-off grant payment and are available for businesses with fixed business costs who experienced a loss of income of over 30% that was directly related to, or as a result of the national restrictions in place from 16^th February – 12^th April 2021.

These businesses must be either a customer-facing business whose primary activity is the sale of goods or services to the public on a face-to-face basis that were able to remain open during restrictions and lockdown but were severely impacted, or a business that does not have a business rate account that was legally required to close between 16^th February – 12^th April 2021.

Ineligible businesses would include those who chose to close, but were not legally required to do so, those who do not rely on offering in-person services and businesses which are unable to demonstrate a loss of income of at least 30% due to COVID-19.

Councillor David Brown, Chairman of the Finance and Assets Committee, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on everyone but especially businesses.

“As a Council we recognise the particularly challenging times businesses have faced and that’s why we are incredibly pleased to be opening up the fourth round of the ARG grant.

“The scheme is designed to provide assistance to those businesses who may not have been eligible for support through previous schemes such as the LRSG or the Restart Grant.

“I would urge all businesses to visit the Council website to check their eligibility and if possible, apply for any funding they are entitled to.”

As part of round four of the ARG scheme, businesses that do not have a business rates account may be entitled to £4,500 if operating from a commercial property, £3,000 if they are operating from a domestic property or £3,000 if they are a community facility such as village hall.

Open customer-facing businesses with or without a business rates account, whose primary activity is providing in-person services that were allowed to remain open but were severely impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions between 16^th February – 12^th April 2021, may be entitled to a one-off grant payment of £2,500.

Businesses will be required to provide evidence of their fixed property costs, business related costs and loss of income when submitting an application to the Council.

Businesses can apply online, by requesting an application form by emailing covid19businessgrants@eastcambs.gov.uk or by telephone by calling 01353 665555.

The closing date for applications for the scheme is 5pm on Sunday 6^th June.