Issue - meetings

Report of the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services

Recommendations:-

1.    That Cabinet approve the operation of the Discretionary Grant Fund as set out within the report.

2.    That Cabinet note the application process and timeframe for applications to be made.

3.    That Cabinet delegate to the Strategic Director  ...  view the full agenda text for item 18

Consideration was given to a report which sets out proposals for how the Discretionary Grant Fund will be utilised by the Council, the businesses the Council aims to support, eligibility and exclusions and the application process.

On 1 May 2020 the UK government announced a new discretionary grant fund scheme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18

Cabinet Portfolio:                 Corporate Services and Finance

Strategic Directorate:           Finance and Customer Services

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 15 June 2020 in respect of the proposed Covid-19 Discretionary Business Grants Scheme.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance, the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services and the Head of Corporate Finance attended the meeting to present the report and to answer members questions.

It was noted that on 1 May 2020 the Government had announced that a new discretionary grant fund scheme would be launched that had been designed to provide grant support to those businesses adversely affected by Covid-19 and who had not been eligible to receive any support under the business support grants that had been announced earlier during the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member advised that the grants that would be provided by the scheme were predominantly aimed at assisting small and micro businesses, businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs, businesses that could demonstrate that they had suffered a significant fall in income due to the Covid-19 pandemic and businesses that occupied property, or part of a property, that had a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000. It was noted that while the scheme offered some flexibility for each local authority to decide which business it should support; the Government had indicated the types of business that it expected the funding to be used in support of.

The officer’s report set out in detail the proposals for how the Discretionary Grant Fund would be utilised by the Council to support business in Rotherham and also the types of businesses that the Council aimed to support. The report also set out in detail the eligibility criteria and application processes. It was noted that there would be a clearly defined time period allowed for applications to be made for the financial support that was available that would enable the Council to assess the value of the payments needed to be made at an early stage. This approach would enable any surplus funds to be used to make further top-up grants to eligible small businesses in a timely manner.

Members welcomed the proposed scheme and the support that it would provide to business that had been ineligible for assistance from previous support schemes. Members noted their approval on how the scheme had been designed in such a way that both enabled businesses to be supported but also did not over commit the Council to providing support in excess of the funding that it had received.

Resolved: -

That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.