Restart grants to help Stratford businesses recover - The Stratford Observer

Restart grants to help Stratford businesses recover

Stratford Editorial 12th Apr, 2021   0

RESTART grants are being offered up to Stratford businesses to help them recover as corona restrictions ease.

The grants, announced by the government to help businesses financially as they reopen, will be paid by Stratford District Council (SDC), which will receive around £11million of Government funding.

Businesses which have received a grants from the council during the pandemic need not reapply since payments will be paid automatically.

Those who have not had any grants in the last 12 months and pay business rates, can still claim restart grants through the council website.




The grants will be available to non-essential retail businesses which were trading and due to pay rates to Stratford District Council on April 1 2021. Firms will be receiving a one-off payment from £6,000 to £18,000 depending on the rateable value and type of business.

For businesses which are ineligible for restart grants because they do not pay business rates, the council will be issuing one-off discretionary grants of around £1,200 each in April.


SDC’s head of customer service David Platts said: “As the district begins to open up, we’ll be doing everything we can to support our businesses to keep afloat as the economy recovers.

“The restart grants will allow the district’s many non-essential retailers to have a bit of a safety net to keep them going, and should hopefully encourage as many as possible to reopen.

“And for those which fall outside of those criteria, we will be awarding another discretionary grant. We are expecting further funding from the Government in June 2021 which will be used to support wider businesses initiatives.

“We will be providing more information on how this scheme will operate in the coming months. The council will be working with the Growth Hub to ensure funding reaches the most appropriate businesses.”

The new grants come after a busy year for the council’s revenues team, in which it issued £52million in grants to over 4,000 businesses across the district.

David added: “We have worked incredibly hard over the last year to issue thousands of grants to firms affected by the pandemic, and we will continue to do so.”

Visit www.stratford.gov.uk/coronavirus/local-restrictions-support-grant-national-lockdown.cfm for information and to apply.

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