In response to the impact that COVID-19 restrictions have had on the local economy, Enfield Council is distributing several new grants to help businesses most affected by the pandemic.
These are three government grants: the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG-C) for businesses forced to close, the LRSG-O for those in the hospitality sector and a Discretionary Grant, all of which will be distributed via Enfield Council along with other local support measures.
The LRSG-C provides support for those businesses that legally had to close during the national lockdown which ends on 2 December – this is a one-off payment that is a fixed amount based on the rateable value of a business. The 2,000 or so eligible businesses have already been contacted by Enfield Council and have been invited to apply.
The second LRSG-O is specifically for the hospitality sector, which includes leisure facilities, pubs, hotels and sports clubs who have been impacted in the period from 17 October to 4 November. Enfield Council has identified around 450 organisations that could be eligible and again, these will be invited to apply when the application portal is live.
We hope to provide further information on the discretionary grant in the near future, once eligibility criteria has been determined.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, Cllr Mary Maguire, said: “We are currently working extremely hard on these schemes to get support to businesses quickly. We have also reinstated our Business Response Team to co-ordinate this work and ensure efficient administration of these schemes, so businesses can get the help they need in a timely fashion. I would like to reassure businesses that we will do our utmost to support them and to guide them through the complexities of the funding programme.”
Since the start of the pandemic Enfield Council has distributed £46.6 million in business rate relief to 1,900 businesses and paid out £46.9 million in business grants to more than 3,400 businesses in the borough.
Enfield Council has also embarked on a significant programme of communications with local businesses since the beginning of the pandemic, distributing support packs to help them open safely in COVID-secure manner as well as sending out regular newsletters to keep them abreast of the latest news to support the local economy.
This festive season, Enfield Council will be announcing the results of the crowdfunding campaign to help those small and micro businesses who have not been able to access financial support thus far.
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