The Council has paid out £151m against more than 15,000 grant applications since March 2020 and has now announced an extended scheme to support organisations not eligible for previous financial help.
The Council has also provided £144m in Business Rate relief to reduce the financial burden on businesses impacted by the pandemic. And £820,500 has been provide to people who have been told to self-isolate by the NHS Test and Trace app.
The new extended discretionary scheme follows different iterations of the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) and Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), which have been open to eligible businesses over the last 10 months to support those impacted during the pandemic.
The extended ARG scheme will focus on businesses that have not been eligible in previous schemes but have been significantly affected by the pandemic and wider lockdown, and will target funds to areas that are essential to the city’s economic recovery.
The aim of this extended scheme is to protect jobs, services and businesses vital to the economy.
The scheme will be funded through £17m of Government grants which the Council has been encouraged to distribute as soon as possible.
Businesses and Organisations that will be in the scope of the extended scheme:
- Additional Business groups (e.g. Childcare Day Nurseries, culture and tourism venues).
- Support to groups outside of the main scheme (e.g. taxi drivers, self-employed company directors of very small businesses without property related costs, businesses whose trade has been affected by the downturn in daytime commuter trade)
- Further sub groups to support recovery (e.g. charities, important cultural, entertainment and convention facilities, business important to the city’s economy.)
This could either take the form of:
- An ongoing package of support until mid Feb and potentially to the end of March 2021
- A one-off payment to mirror the lockdown grant for in-scope businesses.
To be eligible, organisations cannot be in scope for any other grant scheme.
Applications for claims must be made online.
The extended scheme will be live to applicants from Wednesday 10 February.
For more detail information about the scheme or to apply for the scheme, visit:
www.manchester.gov.uk/restrictionssupportgrants
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Over the last 10 months we have consistently found that businesses have slipped through the cracks and have not been eligible for financial support. We have been able to help some of these through discretionary payments, but still we are seeing lots of organisations and individuals who haven’t had any financial support since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Clearly that is completely unsustainable for anyone and we will be using our discretion through this extended fund to provide much needed help. If you or someone you know is within this cohort, know that help is available.”
