It's been a tough year for everyone during the Covid pandemic.

Businesses have struggled through the coronavirus crisis and two national lockdowns.

However, help is available to qualifying businesses though the following various grant and discount schemes:

Local Restrictions Support Grants

Additional Restrictions Grants

Christmas Support Payment for Wet-Led Pubs

Self-employment income support scheme grant

Business rates relief

Government support programmes (including help for business ratepayers, statutory sick pay, business liquidity loans, loan support for larger firms and with HMRC) are available online.

Local Restrictions Support Grants

Business ratepayers that have been mandated to close during the national lockdown (November 5 to December 2) can apply for a Local Restrictions Support Grant.

To be eligible, you must be a business ratepayer and you must be mandated to close.

If this is not the case you cannot apply to this scheme, but you may be considered under the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme.

Before you start the application process you will need:

Your Business Rate Account Bill – both your Property Reference and Business Rate Account numbers are a mandatory requirement

Proof of ID – for a company this can be trading accounts (profit and loss/balance sheet), for a sole trader this can be your passport or driving licence

Proof that you were trading prior to the restriction – such as delivery notices, stock invoices, appointment registers

A current business bank account statement – this is the account the grant will be paid in to

Proof that you were in occupation – two utility bills

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All supporting documents must be no more than three months old.

Your bank statement must relate to your business as NHDC will only pay successful applications into a business bank account.

You may have provided some of this information for previous grants, but NHDC need this information again to enable them to process any further awards.

For more information on all the grants available visit here