Almost 900 businesses have applied to
be considered for Discretionary Grant
Payments during the opening week of
applications, with less than one week left
for outstanding requests to be submitted.
Birmingham City Council will use mon-
ey provided by the Government to sup-
port small businesses, including sole
traders and self-employed, who have
been adversely affected by Covid-19,
but who did not qualify for the original
Small Business or Retail, Hospitality and
Leisure Grants.
Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “These grants are being offered as a lifeline to businesses in desperate need of financial support; the money doesn’t need to be repaid and
is there to help. Whilst handing out money may seem unprecedented; it is in direct response to unprecedent circumstances so should not be
dismissed.
The grants, which will be up to £25,000,
will be prioritised for small businesses
in shared offices or flexible workspaces,
bed and breakfasts which pay council
tax and regular market traders with fixed business costs.
Priority will also be given to charity
properties in receipt of charitable busi-
ness rates relief.
Cllr Ian Ward further said “Businesses
only have one week left to take advan-
tage of this opportunity and submit an
application for consideration. Time is
running out and I would urge anyone
who has not yet looked into the criteria
to do so quickly or risk missing out on
this altogether.”
Before applying for a Discretionary
Grant Payment, businesses should first
check if they are eligible to automati-
cally receive either the Small Business or
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants as
they will not be entitled to both.
If they do decide to proceed with a Dis-
cretionary Grant Payment, businesses
should review the information on the
website and ensure they provide all re-
quired evidence with their application to
avoid processing delays.
When considering allocating the Discre-
tionary Grant Payments, the council will
consider whether the businesses has had
to close or reduce its trading; what are
the commercial fixed costs of the busi-
ness and what is the scale of impact on
the business.
