SUMMER 2021 RECOVERY FUNDING Lockdown restrictions are easing, but where can small businesses turn if they still need help to get off the ground again? The COVID-19 pandemic has presented small businesses throughout the UK with unprecedented challenges, from loss of income to ensuring staff welfare. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come as lockdown measures ease and firms try to get back on an even keel. Being able to access finance through national grants and government schemes has been a lifeline for many businesses over the past 15 months, and help is still available. Newly selfemployed people who have filed a tax return can access the fifth SEISS grant The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September 2021, with a fifth grant covering May to September opening for applications in late July. Those whose turnover has fallen by 30 per cent will receive the 80 per cent grant (based on three months average trading profits, and capped at 7,500), while those whose turnover has fallen by less than 30 per cent will receive a 30 per cent grant. Newly self-employed people who have filed a tax return can access the fifth SEISS grant. In the Budget in March, the government announced a new Restart Grant fund of 5bn to help businesses to reopen. For those that reopened in England from 1 April, grants of up to 6,000 have been made available to non-essential retail, and up to 18,000 for hospitality, leisure and personal-care businesses. But be quick the application window closes on 30 June 2021. The Chancellor also announced a new Recovery Loan Scheme, through which businesses of any size can apply for loans of between 25,000 and 1m up until the end of 2021. The government will provide a guarantee to lenders of 80 per cent, but the borrower is liable for 100 per cent of the debt. At the end of this month (June), the 100 per cent business rates holiday will come to an end. For the remaining nine months of the financial year, it will be discounted by two-thirds, up to a value of 2m, with a lower cap for businesses that have been able to stay open during the pandemic. In the autumn, a new Help to Grow initiative will start, to give small businesses access to discounted software and advice, as well as subsidised training in areas such as financial management and marketing. UK businesses with between five and 249 employees, that have been operating in any sector for more than one year, are eligible. Register your interest on the Help to Grow website. Credit: Karen Woolley, development manager, Federation of Small Businesses Image: iStock / atakan For more information about the COVID-19 support available to businesses, contact the Federation of Small Businesses. For further information, please contact your local Trading Standards Service