Decision details

1)            To seek approval for the top-up amounts to the Additional Restrictions Grant amounts, to be set by business type, for payment in accordance with the criteria approved in the Council’s approved Additional Restrictions Grant – Business Support Scheme 2021/22.

2)            To seek approval for top-up amounts to the Restart grants for those businesses eligible for Strand 1 Restart Grants paid in accordance with Restart Grant for Business Scheme.

THAT:

1)    the  top-up amounts for the Additional Restrictions Grant amounts be set by business type as detailed in paragraph 2.1 of this report and paid as an addition to the original grant amount awarded to eligible applicants in accordance with the criteria approved in the Council’s approved Additional Restrictions Grant – Business Support Scheme 2021/22.

2)    The top-up amounts for the businesses eligible for Strand 1 Restart Grants be set by business type as detailed in paragraph 2.2 of this report and paid as an addition to the original Restart Grant amount awarded.

The Council is expected by Government to award discretionary grants in line withthe guidance it has published and to adopt readily available and easily understood guidance for the administration of those grants.

An alternative option is to set a different top-up grant amount for each business type to those proposed in paragraph 2.1 and not pay a top-up to those equivalent businesses in receipt of Strand 1 Restart Grant, for example to pay a higher amount to those businesses under ARGBSS than was received by similar businesses as a Restart Grant. However, this would not provide an equitable grant allocation to all of the businesses in the Borough.

A second alternative is to also award a top-up to the recipients of the Strand 2 Restart Grant and consequently lower amounts to all other business due to the finite level of funding.  However, given the already substantially higher level of grant received in the Strand 2 category, this option may not be considered as equitable.

A third option is to approve a new ARGBSS scheme with new eligibility criteria to allocate the remaining funding. However, given the time required to devise and launch a new scheme and application process, and to complete the required eligibility assessments, it will not be possible to guarantee payments of awards by 30 March 2022 and therefore the grant funding is highly likely to be repaid to Central Government.  This is not recommended as the government grant available to support local businesses will not be maximised.