PLEASE NOTE – PRIVATE MARKET TRADERS WHO DO NOT PAY BUSINESS RATES CAN ALSO APPLY FOR AN ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS GRANT. MARKET TRADERS WHO PAY BUSINESS RATES ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS GRANTS AND SHOULD APPLY FOR THE LOCAL RESTRICTIONS GRANT (DETAILS ON THE COUNCIL'S WEBSITE).
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (the Council) has been given funding from Central Government to set up a discretionary scheme to support local businesses in the borough.
Guidance on the types of businesses that the Council should support is provided by Government but the Council also has the ability to set its own eligibility criteria.
Over the last few weeks, eligibility criteria have been developed and were agreed by our Leadership Team (read the report).
These grants are targeted towards those businesses that:
All applications must be made online.
No – all businesses that apply for the grant will need to provide documents as evidence. These will need to be uploaded as part of the application form. Required documentation includes:
· VAT registration number (if you have one)
· Copies of bank statements
· Photo ID
· Evidence of reduced business (bank statements, preferably)
· Evidence of your fixed costs, including pitch rent and storage costs.
The Council needs to ensure that the grants are targeted to those business that have been most severely impacted by the 13 October 2020 local and national restrictions and the documents will provide this evidence.
Photo ID will be used to verify the identity of the applicant.
Copies of bank statements will allow bank details to be verified against the applicant's name / business name and their validity confirmed to enable the payment to be processed.
All personal details, business details and bank details will be checked and validated using Government tools – Spotlight and National Fraud Initiative.
The first application window will open on 16 December 2020 for a three week period. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Sunday 10 January 2021.
If there are any funds remaining after the first applications have been considered, a second application window will be opened.
If you are a casual trader, you will eligible if:
· You are linked to one of the business types that the Government have defined as severely impacted
· You are not entitled to any other Government support
· You have a license (signed and dated) and you can provide evidence you are a regular trader each week
The value of your grant will be equal to the value of your rent plus storage costs. Applicants will be asked to provide evidence of these fixed costs and this will be compared against the information that is held by the Council.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 10 January 2021. The Council anticipates that all applications will be considered by Wednesday 20 January 2021 and payments are expected to be made week commencing 25 January 2021. However, this is dependent on volumes of applications. The Council will endeavour to review applications as quickly as possible so to get money to traders.
The grants should be used to contribute towards fixed costs liabilities for rent and storage fees.
Questions can be submitted to the dedicated email address at ARGDisgrants@rbkc.gov.uk