Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Aspiration presented a joint report on the proposed local arrangements for the allocation of Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) grant for 2021/22, following the publication in December 2021 of the Government’s guidance for allocating the grant.

The Council had been allocated £4.59m funding with the expectation that it would be targeted at local businesses that had not received Business Rates relief through previous relief schemes during 2020/21 and 2021/22, such as those in the retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery sectors.

In order to ensure that the funding was allocated to small / medium size businesses that had received limited Government support to date, it was proposed that only those local businesses with a rateable value of up to £51,000 would be eligible under the local scheme.  That would enable an estimated 791 businesses to benefit from 90% Business Rates relief, representing an average ‘saving’ of £5,747 for each business.  The Cabinet Member also spoke on a range of other initiatives that the Council had introduced since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the Barking and Dagenham Recovery Programme, developed in partnership with the Barking Enterprise Centre, which offered a targeted programme of tailored business support for local businesses most impacted by the pandemic.  The main aim of the project was to increase businesses’ long-term resilience and sustainability and it was anticipated that up to 200 businesses would receive dedicated 1-2-1 support and mentoring as well as a grant of up to £5,000, thereby helping to safeguard local jobs.

Cabinet resolved to approve the local policy for the award of Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund grant, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.