Central Bedfordshire businesses struggling during pandemic can now apply for extra help

Struggling businesses will now be able to access further grants following approval by Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive today.

The two new grants - Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG2) and the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) - are designed to support more businesses as they struggle during lockdown because of the pandemic.

ARG2 has been designed to help those businesses who are not able to access any other form of Government Covid-19 related grant schemes and can provide up to £3,000 depending on the number of employees.

Cllr David Shelvey, executive member for corporate resources, said: “It is vital that we provide as much support as possible for our businesses who have struggled so much during the pandemic. These new grants will enable many small businesses to access much needed funds. I urge all small businesses to apply for these grants.”

ARG2 is not designed to, as per Government guidelines, compensate for wages that can be covered by the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) or by the furloughing of staff. It is designed to broaden it as much as possible to include businesses demonstrating a significant loss of income.

The ARG2 is not sector specific and can support any type of relatively small business, in any setting, from being in a rated premise to home based, provided the business has seen at least a 50 per cent reduction of income.

You will have to provide evidence of a drop in income of more than 50 per cent year on year (typically between November 2020 and January 2021 compared to the same period the previous year but with some flexibility according to circumstances).

You can apply here