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What is the Additional Restrictions Grant?

This scheme is to support businesses across the district that are not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG). This grant scheme will be funded from monies allocated to Huntingdonshire District Council by the government.

Successful applicants of this scheme will each receive a one-off grant payment of £2000 to cover the current national restriction period. If you have already successfully received this grant, please do not apply again.

Are you eligible to receive a Support Grant, because your business was ordered to close by the government on 5 November 2020?

Businesses which may be eligible for an award will be those which were previously entitled to a grant under the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund (LADGF). They must not be registered for business rates, they must be in the business sectors listed below and must have been required to stop, significantly change or reduce their normal operations in order to comply with lockdown regulations:

• bed and breakfast businesses registered with Huntingdonshire District Council's Environmental Health

• charities or

• organisations that normally operate within a shared workspace.

All of the above must have their organisations based within the Huntingdonshire district area.

• Market traders who are regular attenders at recognised markets in the district may be eligible too.

Some examples of organisations which may be eligible are:

• a market trader, where the majority of business is non-essential items, who has had to change to sell predominantly essential items 

• a bed and breakfast only able to remain open to provide accommodation for business travel users

• shared workspace, ie to provide click and collect.

We will be using the List A and List B (government guidance on nationally restricted businesses/organisations) to determine eligibility of shared workspace applications.

Before you start your application, please make sure you have the following documents in electronic format:

1. Your passport or driving licence showing your picture, full name and date of birth. If your photocard driving licence or your entitlement to drive expires between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020, you have an 11-month extension from the date of expiry. We will accept your driving licence if the expiry date falls within this period.

2. Organisation bank statement (not a bank account summary) for the account into which you want the grant payment to be made. The bank statement must be recent, for a month ending during October or November 2020. The organisation name, account number, sort code, date and organisation transactions must be clear and legible.

3. If your organisation is a charity, the certificate showing your Charity Commission registration number.

4. If your organisation is a sole trader or partnership, a recent document or correspondence from HM Revenue & Customs showing your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number.

5. If your organisation is not a limited company, sole tradership or partnership, or charity, a recent document (such as payslip or P60) or correspondence from HM Revenue & Customs showing your National Insurance number.

6. If your business is operating from a shared workspace, the rent/ lease agreement clearly showing the period of the agreement and the amount and frequency of rent to be paid.

When completing the form you will need to provide:

• if you are a director, your Companies House business registration number
• if you are a sole trader or partner, your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number
• if you represent a charity, your Charity Commission registration
• if none of the above apply (other), your National Insurance number
• if your organisation is registered for VAT, your VAT number.

If your application is approved, the grant will be paid by BACS payment into the organisation’s bank account. In accordance with the government’s guidance, applications to the grant fund will be subject to anti-fraud checks (including with third-party agencies) prior to payment of grants. If fraudulent claims are subsequently detected after the grant is awarded, we reserve the right to pursue reclaiming those monies.

Further information

Further information about the Additional Restrictions Grant can be found on the Frequently Asked Questions page.

How do I apply?

How can I check updates to my application?

Log in to your MyHuntingdonshire account.

Once signed in, click on 'Track my requests'

Click on the 'Complete' tab and then click on the arrow for the relevant application. You can find the application reference number (which is a string of 8 capital letters) on the email that was sent to you when you submitted your application for a grant. It can also be found under the Documents tab, where you application has been uploaded.

This will then open as below - click on the 'Notes' tab to view any updates.

Please note that a Note will be added here when your application has undergone its initial validation check. We will notify you here if it has passed and moved on to mandatory pre-payment and anti-fraud checks or if it has failed, stating the reasons why.

If there are no Notes here your application is still in the queue for review by the team, which we aim to complete within 3-5 working days of submission.

Update to COVID-19 business grant subsidy allowance

The EU State aid rules no longer apply to subsidies granted in the UK following the end of the transition period, which ended on 31 December 2020. This does not impact the limited circumstances in which State aid rules still apply under the Withdrawal Agreement, specifically Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The United Kingdom remains bound by its international commitments, including subsidy obligations set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU.

On Thursday 4 March new subsidy allowances were established for the COVID-19 business grants schemes, based on the principles set out in Article 3.4 of the TCA.

From Thursday 4 March local authorities must apply the updated scheme rules set out in the Government Guidance document issued on 4 March 2021.

Updated COVID-19 business grants subsidy allowances provided based on the TCA

There are three subsidy allowances for this scheme set out below:

1. Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance

Grants may be paid in accordance with Article 3.2(4) of the TCA, which enables an applicant to receive up to a maximum level of subsidy without engaging Chapter 3 of the TCA. This allowance is £325,000 Special Drawing Rights, to a single economic actor (trading business entity) over any period of three fiscal years, which is the equivalent of £335,000 as of 2 March 2021.

An applicant may elect not to receive grants under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance and instead receive grants only using the below allowances available under this scheme.

2. COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance

Where the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance has been reached, grants may be paid in compliance with the Principles set out in Article 3.4 of the TCA and in compliance with Article 3.2(3) of the TCA under the COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance (subsidies granted on a temporary basis to respond to a national or global economic emergency).

For the purposes of these scheme rules, this allowance is £1,600,000 per single economic actor. This allowance includes any grants previously received under the COVID-19 business grant schemes and any State aid previously received under Section 3.1 of the European Commission’s Temporary Framework across any other UK scheme. This may be combined with the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance to equal £1,935,000 (subject to the exact amount applicable under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance using the Special Drawing Right calculator).

3. COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance

Where an applicant has reached its limit under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance and COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance, it may be able to access a further allowance of funding under these scheme rules of up to £9,000,000 per single economic actor, provided the following conditions are met:

a. The Special Allowance covers only the applicant’s uncovered fixed costs incurred during the period between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2022, including such costs incurred in any part of that period (‘eligible period’).

b. Applicants must demonstrate a decline in turnover during the eligible period of at least 30% compared to the same period in 2019. The calculation of losses will be based on audited accounts or official statutory accounts filed at Companies House, or approved accounts submitted to HMRC which includes information on the applicant’s profit and loss.

c. ‘Uncovered fixed costs’ means fixed costs not otherwise covered by profit, insurance or other subsidies.

d. The grant payment must not exceed 70% of the applicant’s uncovered fixed costs, except for micro and small enterprises (for the purposes of this scheme defined as less than 50 employees and less than £9,000,000 of annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet), where the grant payment must not exceed 90% of the uncovered fixed costs;

e. Grant payments under this allowance must not exceed £9,000,000 per single economic actor. This allowance includes any grants previously received in accordance with Section 3.12 of the European Commission’s Temporary Framework; all figures used must be gross, that is, before any deduction of tax or other charge.

f. Grants provided under this allowance shall not be cumulated with other subsidies for the same costs.

Summary

For the avoidance of doubt, grants under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance, the COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance and the COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance may be combined for a potential total allowance of £10,935,000 (subject to the exact amount applicable under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance using the Special Drawing Right calculator).