A new pot of funding to support Liverpool businesses affected by the Covid pandemic will be launched next week.
A total of £2.6m will be made available from Monday (October 25) to specifically support small or medium-sized businesses, with between 10 and 249 employees.
To be known as the Trading On Scheme, it is part of a £8.1m programme across the city region which has already seen more than £44m in emergency funding successfully distributed to more than 4,000 businesses since the pandemic began.
The original £44m from the government’s Additional Restrictions Grant scheme was secured following negotiations with government when the city region was first put into Tier Three restrictions in October 2020.
Additional Information
1. The new ‘Trading On’ grants for businesses are targeted slightly differently for businesses operating in the city of Liverpool.
2. The new grant is open for businesses with 10 – 249 full-time employees that can show they have been substantially impacted by Covid restrictions – either turnover, profitability or number of employees, with specific reference to loss of income compared with pre-Covid performance.
3. All businesses apply through their local City Council portal from Monday 25 October at 10am to Friday 12 November and businesses must submit evidence to support their application – the involvement of the businesses accountant is crucial in supporting the application.
4. Your local City Council will use a criteria to determine the number of successful applications and the size of grants distributed. These grants will be between £5,000 and £50,000. They will not be evaluated on a first come first serve basis.
5. All businesses can apply for the grant, but Liverpool City Council are particularly keen to support Visitor Economy businesses as they have been most substantially and directly hit by the restrictions.
6. It is anticipated that payments of grants will be made in January 2022.
In a joint statement, Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and Mayor Joanne Anderson said:
“Throughout the past 18 months, we have worked together to project our region from the biggest challenge it has faced since the war.
“That collaboration, creativity and hard work resulted in millions of pounds of support that helped sustain thousands of businesses in all parts of our region through the worst of the pandemic.
“More than £44m was distributed to more than 4,000 businesses, saving many more thousands of jobs and livelihoods in the process. We start our recovery from a much stronger position as a result.
“Today, we’re launching another £2.6m of funding for SMEs in the city, who make up a massive chunk of the local economy. Together, we are making sure that Liverpool and the City Region has the fastest and strongest recovery possible, with no one left behind.”
The government requires each council to exercise its local knowledge and judgment in devising a grant scheme that aligns best with the particular economic characteristics of its area by funding those businesses that have been severely impacted by Covid-19.
Because of this and the limited amount of funding available, the amounts of grant funding for individual businesses will vary across different local authority areas.