Dear BID Businesses,
Understandably the most pressing concerns from many businesses right now is how to survive the financial pressures of the latest national lockdown, so I'll keep this comms very focused on that issue.
Whilst the BID has no direct involvement in the grants process, we can help by signposting you to the most relevant information. This is primarily going to be via Arun District Council's Coronavirus Business Support pages, as ADC have responsibility for delivering the financial packages announced by government.
One off grant of up to £9,000 for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure businesses, and funding for further discretionary grants
The Chancellor's announcement of a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 for businesses in the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors will undoubtedly be welcome, as will the discretionary fund for businesses in other sectors. However, as we have all experienced during previous restrictions, there is an inevitable delay between the announcement being made at government level and the mechanism and arrangements for funding being made available to businesses.
Here is the link to the latest information about the one off grants of up to £9,000:
We will send out any further information as it becomes available, but I would urge you to keep visiting the ADC webpage for the very latest updates - particularly for clarification as to whether the grant is per business, or per business property, as the two terms have once again been used synonymously in the gov.uk statement. And I's rather not get in that fight again ...
Tier related financial support
Arun District Council have created an excellent chart showing all of the lockdown and tier related grants that have been made available, with clear details of which businesses are eligible for which support. It is worth having a look to make sure you have applied for all the support your business is eligible for:
IMPORTANT NOTE: With regards to financial support during the Tier 4 restrictions which came into effect on 26th December, The ADC webpage is currently stating "We are not yet ready to accept applications for Tier 4 restrictions. We are actively developing this mechanism and hope to have it up and running in the coming days; guidance will be provided on this page when it becomes available."
Really useful newsletters and updates to sign up for:
ADC's Arun Businesses Partnership: email business@arun.gov.uk and ask for your details to be added.
Contacting the BID:
In accordance with the lockdown rules, Clair and I are both working from home, and only coming into town if it's absolutely essential. That does include dealing with Parking Disc collections, so if you need more discs, please order in the usual way, and we will contact you to make arrangements to meet at the BID Office to collect.
If you need to get in touch with the BID Team, you can contact us by email: info@brbid.org, by phone: 07917 692690 or through Zoom meeting software. The software is free to download and works across a wide range of platforms – phones, tablets, PC’s, Macs. If you’d like a virtual face to face, please invite: heather@brbid.org