Discretionary Business Grants

Discretionary Business Grants are primarily and predominantly aimed at:

Small businesses affected by coronavirus that did not qualify for previous government grants may be able to get help from a new scheme.

The new discretionary grant scheme is aimed at specific types of micro and small businesses and charities that were not eligible for the small business grant scheme or the retail, leisure, and hospitality grant scheme.

Due to the limited amount of funding available, applications will be assessed in a single round to provide a consistent and fair approach and try to make sure as many businesses as possible can benefit.

The government has asked councils to prioritise grants for:

• small businesses in shared premises or other flexible workspaces, e.g. industrial parks, science parks, incubators etc, which do not have their own business rates assessment
• regular market traders who do not have their business rates assessment
• B&B’s that pay council tax instead of business rates
• charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief that could otherwise have been eligible for small business rates relief or rural rate relief

There are other criteria for businesses to meet, and there’s more information, including how to apply, at www.swale.gov.uk/discretionary-grants.

Applications will be open until 11:59pm on Tuesday, 16 June and payments will be made to successful applicants as soon as is possible after a decision is made.