Discretionary Grant Scheme
Following the Cabinet Member decision on 24 November 2020, a Discretionary Grant Scheme was launched to help those businesses or charities affected by the November 2020 lockdown period. The scheme provided support to those businesses mandated to close but without a rateable value who would not receive a grant via the Local Restrictions Support Grant and those that were open but lost more than 50% of trade.

The council will now re-launch the Discretionary Support Scheme to assist those businesses or charities closed due to the lockdown period which commenced on the 5th January where ineligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant.

The changes to the Discretionary Grant Scheme are as follows;
• Support of between £1,334 and £3,000 will be provided to businesses mandated to close in the lockdown period which commenced on the 5th January but are not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG). To ensure alignment with the LRSG for those businesses that successfully apply, a rolling monthly grant award will be made to these businesses for the period of lockdown (pro-rated where the lockdown is less than one full month).

• Businesses that were closed in November 2020 and successfully applied for the Discretionary Grant Scheme will also now receive a monthly equivalent payment for the latest lockdown period (subject to confirmation they remain closed but have not gone out of business).

• The revised Discretionary Grant Scheme will no longer provide support to businesses that are open and lost more than 50% of trade. These businesses will be supported by the Exceptional Circumstances Fund below.

• In accordance with the move to a regular payment, the Head of Economic Development or the Economic Development Manager will be authorised to approve a grant award of up to £3,000 per business per month for the period of the national lockdown.

• Registered charities must have an income of more than £5k per annum


Exceptional Circumstances Fund
On the 5th January 2021 the government announced a ‘top up’ grant scheme to support Retail Hospitality and Leisure businesses with a rateable value of between £4,000 and £9,000 (in addition to the LRSG funding).

Recognising that a number of Retail, Leisure and Hospitality businesses do not have a rateable value, and that a number of other businesses sectors have been severely impacted by the lockdown, the council will utilise the Additional Restrictions Grant allocation to establish an Exceptional Circumstances Fund (ECF) to support those that have lost more than 50% of trade. Aligned to the Retail Hospitality and Leisure grant award levels, the ECF will make grant awards on a sliding scale subject to the level of losses incurred and the size of the respective business (in terms of FTEs employed).

The ECF will be available to Herefordshire based self-employed, micro, small businesses as well as registered charities who were trading on or after 5th January 2021 who wish to make a case for why a grant is critically required based on the following circumstances;

• They are not eligible for the Retail Hospitality and Leisure ‘top up’ grant and can demonstrate a significant (50%+) loss of income. Businesses and charities that have received either the Discretionary Grant Scheme, Local Restrictions Support Grant, or the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) that have not received the Retail Hospitality and Leisure top up grant and can demonstrate significant on-going financial hardship will be able to apply for the ECF.

• They employed at least half of one full time equivalent employee on 5th January 2021 within Herefordshire. That is someone who works at least 15 hours per week for the business. This can include the business owner(s) or the director(s) of a limited company if they work for the business or charity. Registered charities can include evidenced volunteer time for this eligibility (up to 4 FTE volunteers)

The minimum grant level that will be paid (please see levels below) will be £2,000 or less if the level of declared lost income is lower than this amount (net any other grant award). This would prevent businesses or charities from possibly inadvertently profiting from the scheme, by ensuring they receive a grant within levels of losses actually incurred.

Those who would like to be considered for the ECF will complete an online application form to set out their case (declaring their application to be a true and accurate account), and provide any available supporting evidence to their application such as a statement from their accountant of the impact on their business, letter from bank manager, evidence of cancelled orders/ events, identifying numbers of employees on payroll who are now at risk of redundancy.

A decision making panel (senior Economic Development and Finance managers) will review applications on their own merits making a recommendation to the Head of Economic Development or the Economic Development Manager to award a grant award of £0, £2K £4K, £6K or £9K (or within these bandings in line with the level of loss incurred). This level of grant award is aligned with the Retail Hospitality Leisure top up scheme, but including a lower threshold of £2,000 (or below in line with level of lost income) for sole traders or micro businesses/ smaller charities.

The ECF will provide one top up payment to eligible businesses for the current lockdown period. Should the period of lockdown be extended, and second proportionate (subject to the length of the extension) payment may be made.

In an exceptional circumstance, where a business or charity operates from multiple sites and can demonstrate that their future viability is at significant risk, the panel may make a recommendation to the Head or Economic Development or the Economic Development Manager to consider awarding multiple grants.

As a guide the following scoring criteria would utilised by the panel.

Loss of Income Score Number of Employees (FTE) Score
Min 50% Loss Income 10 0.5 to 5 10
75% Loss of Income 15 5 to 10 15
100% Loss of Income 20 10 to 20 20
20+ 25

Level of Grant
Total Score Award
Up to 20 £2,000 or less (in line with the level of actual lost income stated in the application).
21 to 29 £4,000 (in line with the level of actual lost income stated in the application).
30 to 40 £6,000 (in line with the level of actual lost income stated in the application).
41+ £9,000 (in line with the level of actual lost income stated in the application).

As the panel would be considering each application on its own merits, in exceptional circumstances they may make a recommendation to the Head of Economic Development or Economic Development Manager (with clearly defined and recorded rationale) to award a higher level of grant than that the scoring category, but not each individual grant would not exceed £9,000.

Where the number of applications received exceeds the available budget, the council reserves the right to proportionately reduce the grant award to within the available funding.