The window for applications to this fund has now closed.

Small and micro businesses within Eastbourne and the Lewes district were invited to submit their details to apply for a grant from the Discretionary top-up fund. The funding is limited and aimed at businesses who were not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Fund

The Government asked that we prioritise businesses with fixed property-related costs which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces. Examples could include units in industrial parks, science parks and incubators which do not have their own business rates assessment
• Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment
• Bed and Breakfasts and Guest Houses which pay Council Tax instead of business rates
• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.

The amount that eligible businesses may receive is up to £10,000. In exceptional circumstances we will consider grants up to £25,000. However, the government has provided a finite allocation of £1.3m for Lewes and £1.1m for Eastbourne. 

The Councils will look to award grants to businesses that meet the national priorities first. Any residual funds will be awarded to businesses that meet local priorities.

The Discretionary Business Grant Policy for Eastbourne, and for Lewes, can be accessed below.

The Councils have worked closely with neighbouring district and borough council’s in East Sussex to develop the framework, whilst each Council’s scheme has been tailored to suit it’s economic and business needs.

Detailed information about the eligibility criteria can be found here

For detailed information about the eligibility criteria please download the document below.

The window for applications to this fund has now closed. 

Support for businesses: The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.

Eastbourne Borough Council and Lewes District Council understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on our business community. This is a priority for us, and we are working hard to support you during these circumstances.

We have worked closely with Ascendant Solutions to provide a portal that enables businesses to claim a business support grant. The portal is hosted at grantapproval.co.uk , in partnership with the councils.

Businesses are now able to submit their details to claim a business support grant, details of which are below.

Under the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) all businesses in England in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief (RRR) as of the 11 March 2020 will be eligible for a payment of £10,000.

Those businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will receive the following levels of grant payment:

1. Businesses with a rateable value up to £15,000 will receive a grant payment of £10,000 whether or not you are entitled to small business rate relief.
2. If you have a property with a rateable value of between £15,000.01 and below £51,000, you will be entitled to a grant of £25,000.

The government has set out the following exclusions:

• Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme.
• Businesses which are not ratepayers in the business rates system are not included in this scheme.
• Hereditaments occupied for personal uses are not included. For example, beach huts, personal stables and moorings.
• Car Parks and parking spaces are not included.
• Businesses which as of the 11 March were in liquidation or were dissolved will not be eligible.
• Only one grant may be awarded per hereditament.

Grant payments are currently subject to state aid limits and other conditions.

 Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG)

The Additional Restrictions Grant is a discretionary grant scheme and has been developed to provide additional support to businesses that have been forced to close or are severely affected during the current national lockdown.

The funding is limited and aimed at businesses who were not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant

If a business is required to close and has no Non-domestic rating assessment and falls within one of the following categories, then an award will be granted:

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces. Examples could include units in industrial parks, science parks and incubators which do not have their own business rates assessment
• Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of Business Rates
• Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment
• Home based ‘in person’ businesses where services are wholly or mainly provided ‘in person’ and cannot be provided remotely
• Arts and entertainment organisations or businesses such as amateur dramatic groups or local theatres
• Agricultural businesses that wholly provide the science or practise of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool and other products

In addition to the businesses above, businesses that fall under the Food, Beverage, Event, Hospitality and Leisure supply chain and have not been forced to close will also be eligible for a grant payment.

In all cases the business must have been trading with effect 4 November 2020

The amount of grant that will be awarded has been decided as follows:

Business type | Grant (5th November 2020 to 2nd December 2020)

Bed & Breakfast - £1,334

Supply chain – Food, Beverage, Event, Hospitality and Leisure: 

• For businesses with a rateable value of under £15k - £1,334 
• For business with a rateable value of more than £15k and less than £51k - £2,000 
• For businesses with a rateable value of £51k or more - £3,000 

Market Traders - £667

Shared spaces - £1,334

Agriculture - £1,334

Homebased business - £800

Arts and entertainment - £1,334

Applications for the Additional Restrictions Grant will close at 23:59 on the 13 December 2020 

NatWest Social and Community Capital Coronavirus Response Fund

Applications for the NatWest Social and Community Capital Coronavirus Response Fund are now closed. NatWest will contact shortlisted entries.

The coronavirus Future Fund

The Future Fund has been designed by government and will be delivered by the British Business Bank. The scheme opened to applications on Wednesday 20 May 2020.

The Future Fund is open to eligible companies operating in all sectors.

The scheme will issue convertible loans between £125,000 to £5 million to innovative companies which are facing financing difficulties due to the coronavirus outbreak.

These convertible loans may be a suitable option for businesses that typically rely on equity investment and are unable to access other government business support programmes because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit.

Your business is eligible if:

• it is UK-incorporated. If your business is part of a corporate group, only the parent company is eligible;
• it has raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from third-party investors in the last 5 years;
• none of its shares are traded on a regulated market, multilateral trading facility or other listing venue;
• it was incorporated on or before 31 December 2019;
• at least one of the following is true: 1.) half or more employees are UK-based; or, 2.) half or more revenues are from UK sales.