The Government have made an award of up to £25,000 to businesses in response to Coronavirus. The Government will pass funding to us to distribute these grants and we will transfer the money to eligible businesses as soon as we receive this funding.

Grants available

There will be three grants available:

London Business Hub’s COVID-19 Recovery Grant

Open on Friday,16th October at 10.30am. 

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), eligible SMEs will be able to secure grants of between £1,000 – £5,000 to help them access professional, legal, financial or other advice and /or new technology and other minor equipment to address their immediate needs in response to the impact of COVID-19.

If you are interested, please take a moment to read our project information page and FAQs. As part of the process you will be asked to provide information on the cost and details of your project/service or item.

As part of the grant application support, we will be running a webinar on Thursday 15th October 2020 from 10.30am to 1.30pm. It will cover in more detail the COVID-19 recovery grants criteria, the application process as well as other scheme/grant opportunities. Note that places are limited. Click here to register your interest. If you are not able to attend, we will also be posting the webinar content on the project page on the same day.

Small Business Grant Fund

• £10,000 for businesses who were receiving small business rate relief (SBRR) on 11 March 2020

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant

• Up to £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses that have a rateable value below £51,000 and would have been entitled to the expanded retail relief if it has existed on 11 March 2020.

• Properties with a rateable value up to £15,000 will be entitled to £10,000,
• Properties with a rateable value between £15,000.01 and £51,000 will be entitled to £25,000.

If you are eligible for a grant, and we hold your BACS details for payments, your account will be credited and you do not need to do anything.

Other ratepayers are invited to claim via our online form.

Queries on eligibility should be addressed by email to business.rates@redbridge.gov.uk

Business grants appeals

There is no formal appeal process but if we have notified you that you are not entitled to a small business grant fund payment or a retail, hospitality and leisure grant fund payment you can request a review of the decision.

Business Rates Holiday

The Government have extended the Retail Discount to 100% for the year 2020/21.  This will apply to all retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, and nurseries and child care providers.  We will be adjusting business rate bills for those eligible and will be issuing a revised bill in a few weeks.

Instalments for April 2020, may be missed by those businesses that are eligible. We will not collect payments by Direct Debits for these eligible businesses. 

Queries on eligibility should be addressed by email to business.rates@redbridge.gov.uk

Business support

For more support, please see our business support directory page.