New coronavirus funds to help support struggling businesses

Enfield Council will be directing its efforts towards helping small and medium sized businesses who have not benefited from the government’s previous support schemes, including freelancers, home-based businesses and the self-employed. Applications can be made by visiting www.enfield.gov.uk/covid19businesses . Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, Cllr Mary Maguire, said: “A large proportion of Enfield’s businesses fall in the small or medium-sized category (SMEs). In addition, around 32,000 adults in Enfield describe themselves as self-employed. Some of these people, who make enormous contributions to the local economy, have not qualified for financial assistance. For many businesses, furlough and business loan guarantees have not been sufficient. This is why Enfield Council has designed the allocation of the fund to reach those who might otherwise have been forgotten.”

Funding will come from the government’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) and is aimed at those businesses which have been legally forced to close but are outside of the business rates system, or businesses that have been severely impacted by the restrictions put in place to control the spread of COVID-19.

Enfield Council has been awarded £9.6 million which includes an initial £6 million for this phase of the ARG.  Separately, the Council has in recent weeks distributed Restart Grants totaling nearly £8.3 million to 1,290 Enfield businesses.

Cllr Maguire added: “These wider support schemes are being designed to aid the local economy and create jobs and sustainable growth. Driven by our Economic Development Strategy and the Council Plan, we want this funding to help revitalise town centres, encourage entrepreneurship and support cultural initiatives which together will help to build a stronger economic recovery for the borough.”

Phase 2 of ARG will be open for applications for a three-week window, closing on 6 June 2021.

Local authorities are responsible for delivering grants to businesses. Unlike the previous phase of ARG, the Council in this instance (for ARG phase 2) has discretion over the design and implementation of the local scheme.
Funding has been distributed among local authorities, following the November lockdown, at the rate of £20 per head of population. Enfield has received in total £9.6 million in funding for the ARG.
Applications can be made at: https://new.enfield.gov.uk/services/business-and-licensing/covid-19-guidance-for-employers/#2
To be eligible under ARG phase 2, applicants:
must be either a registered business (with Companies House); a registered charity with a trading entity/activity; or registered as self-employed (with HMRC) and

must have an Enfield address that they are trading from;

must have trading activities which have been significantly impacted by restrictions on socialising and national lockdown;

must evidence a loss of income of at least 10% due to covid restrictions.

Image attached is of Cllr Mary Maguire, Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement.
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