Harrogate Borough Council has provided more than £6million in grants to businesses to support them during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and this is set to increase in the coming weeks.
Following an announcement by government last month (March), around £50million has been made available to support Harrogate district businesses through business rates relief and government grants.
Around 2,000 forms have been received and the borough council are continuing to process any grants as quickly as possible.
Businesses that are in recipient of small business rate relief or rural relief will receive a £10,000 grant while hospitality and leisure businesses, with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000, will receive a £25,000 grant.
Retail, hospitality, leisure businesses and childcare nurseries, regardless of rateable value, will also not pay any business rates in 20/21.
Councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development for Harrogate Borough Council, said:
We know businesses are under intense pressure. Our business rates team have worked extraordinarily hard to gear up to process tens of millions of pounds of government cash to support local businesses.
We have drafted in extra staff to deal with grant payments and top priority is getting the money in to the bank accounts of local businesses as quickly as we can. Many grants have already been received and we are busy processing others so that they should be hitting accounts early next week.
More information on these initiatives, and a form for businesses to complete, is available on the council’s website at: www.harrogate.gov.uk/covid19grants (businesses do not need to apply via thirty-party organisations that might charge a fee).
Councillor Swift added:
Businesses can help speed up their payments by completing the online information form on our website. This makes sure we have the information that we need to make payments quickly and accurately.
The council say they are also continuing to work with the chambers of trade, Harrogate BID, York, North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and other business associations to understand what further support can be provided.
