03/28/2024

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Covid-19 Discretionary Emergency Business Fund details

The purpose of the Emergency Business Fund is to support businesses in the leisure, tourism, retail, and hospitality sectors that do not pay business rates and are not eligible for the Economic Resilience fund. If you pay business rates you could be eligible for the NDR Emergency Fund.

Covering the period from 13th December 2021 to 14th February 2022, the Emergency Business Fund has been introduced to assist businesses with their immediate cash flow and is intended to cover the business impact and economic consequences of additional restrictions introduced on 26th December 2021 necessary to control the spread of Covid-19.

Grant A:

A £1,000 cash grant payment for hospitality, tourism, retail, and related supply chain businesses which do not employ anyone apart from the owner, and do not have a property.

Grant B:

A £2,000 cash grant payment for hospitality, tourism, retail, leisure, and related supply chain businesses who employ staff through PAYE (in addition to the owner).

Who is eligible to apply for this grant?

Businesses that satisfy the following eligibility criteria may be eligible for the grant:

  • Businesses trading prior and up to 13 December 2021 and would expect to be trading until 14 February 2022 
  • Businesses must be operating in Wales
  • Businesses with an annual turnover of at least £10,000
  • The business must be your main source of income (>50%)
  • Supported businesses must aim to maintain employment until at least 14th February 2022
  • Only one application per business will be accepted

What do we mean by ‘freelancer’?

Freelancers may run their own business and are often defined as self-employed although they differ slightly. Freelancers may carry out multiple jobs on behalf of different companies and often tend to work alone. A freelancer tends to work on numerous short-term contracts, offering services and time to organisations in return for an agreed fee.

Businesses will not be eligible for the grant if they fall into one of the following categories:

  • Enforced closure having infringed social-distancing rules. However, if improvements have been made and the business has been allowed to re-open then they may be eligible for the grant (subject to meeting the eligibility criteria)
  • In liquidation or dissolved or in process of being struck off
  • Breached subsidy threshold
  • If the business you’re applying for is not your main source of income
  • The business is a self-catering business for less than 30 people
  • Your business pays business rates (this includes if you are receiving rate relief)
  • If you have received funding in the last 12 months which exceeds 100% of your turnover in the 2019 financial year, you should not apply for this fund.

For more information on alternate financial advice and available support, please visit Business Wales.

Please note:

  • Supply chain businesses are defined as a business that generates 60% or more of its sales revenue from businesses directly impacted by the restrictions.
  • Retail businesses are defined as those who would normally be eligible for rates relief as specified on Business Wales. For this scheme, the same eligibility will apply even though applicants will not be paying business rates.
  • Materially impacted means a >40% reduction in December 2021 and January 2022 as compared to December 2019 and January 2020 (or a comparable two-month period if the business was not trading on Dec 19 Jan 20).

What happens after you apply?

Decisions on applications will be made based on the information provided in the application form, associated evidence, and information checks that are conducted from other business data sources. If any data is incomplete or incorrect or the evidence provided is insufficient, your application will not be processed and will be rejected.

  • Successful applications: Grants will be paid in full to the bank account details provided.
  • Unsuccessful applications: You will receive an email outlining the reason[s] for rejection. There is no appeal process.

Repayment of the grant in full, or part, may be required if evidence emerges that the applicant was not eligible for the Emergency Business Fund.

Subsidy Control: You will need to declare this subsidy to any other aid awarding body that requests information from you on how much aid you have received. Examples could include Economic Resilience Fund, Start-up Grant, Non-Domestic Rates Grants but not the Job Retention Scheme or the Self Employment Income Support Scheme. If you’re unsure, please list the support.

How to apply:

You can apply for the grant online. You will need the following information to complete the application:

  • Business information – When submitting the number of employees, this should be the number of staff working in the business including the owner.
  • Personal details
  • Bank Details

Applications for the grant will close at 5 pm on 14 February 2022.

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