Newark and Sherwood District Council is leading the way in providing much-needed cash support to businesses to help see them through a further wave of coronavirus restrictions.

Within 48 hours of the grant scheme opening, £396,258 was paid out to 111 qualifying businesses that were affected when Newark and Sherwood entered Tier 2, Tier 3 and the latest national restrictions.

The council has pledged to continue to ensure that those entitled to the funds will receive them as soon as possible, in an efficient and effective approach to supporting businesses and protecting the local economy.

The council recognises that it is absolutely critical that businesses have the funds to stay afloat and has used a swift but secure process to ensure funds land in the right place at a time when they are desperately needed.

The council has used its own resources, re-prioritising its cash flow to make the payments immediately using the Faster Payments system which ensures the speedy transfer of cash.

Coun David Lloyd, leader of the council, said: “This has demonstrated local government helping the business community at its very best. Some businesses are in dire need of funds and we were determined that, once again, we would cut through bureaucracy to make the process as simple and as fast as possible to get the money into businesses’ bank accounts.

“There are a number of different grant schemes available and to make things simple, we have created one single web form that captures all the information necessary to apply for one grant or more.

“It is a limited pot of money available to us and it’s absolutely crucial you get those applications to us by 5pm on Wednesday, November 25. Our Finance and Revenues teams are ready to process them and we will continue to do all that we can to make sure that we support businesses and our town centres, not just now but with the economic regeneration that is needed after that.”

Grants available include:

•Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) – a discretionary scheme designed to support businesses in the hospitality, hotel, bed and breakfast and leisure sectors, that were affected while remaining open when entering Tier 2 local restrictions in Nottinghamshire on 14 October 2020.
•Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) – a scheme to support businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, beauty and leisure sectors, that were legally required to close as a result of Nottinghamshire entering Tier 3 on 30 October 2020. This scheme will be administered in line with Government requirements.
•National Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) – a scheme to support businesses that that have been legally required to close as a result of national restrictions commencing on 5 November 2020. This scheme will be administered in line with Government requirements.
•Local Restrictions Support Grant (Sector) – a scheme to support businesses that that were legally required to close on 23 March 2020 and have never been able to re-open. This scheme will be administered in line with Government requirements.
•Additional Restrictions Grant (discretionary) – a discretionary scheme to provide additional one-off funding to businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, beauty, leisure and non-essential retail affected by the national restrictions.

For those businesses which have not yet submitted their application, complete the online form before 5pm on Wednesday, November 25.

https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/fsb/additionalbusinesssupportgrants/

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