COVID-19 economic support

The Government has announced a series of economic support measures to coincide with the national measures:

• Business premises forced to close in England due to local or national restrictions are to receive grants worth up to £3,000 a month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant.
• For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.
• £1.1 billion is being given to local authorities, distributed on the basis of £20 per head, for one-off payments to enable us to support businesses more broadly.

The LGA and councils are engaging closely with central government officials on what these business support measures mean for councils, including new burdens payments and what happens with grants previously announced such as the discretionary support for 'Tier 2' areas. We will update you on this in future bulletins as we receive further information.

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until December with employees receiving 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. The LGA guidance on the scheme has been updated. The Government has confirmed that partially publicly funded bodies may be eligible to access the scheme where their private revenues have been disrupted.
• The Government announced today that support for self-employed people will rise to 80 per cent of trading profits during November.
• Mortgage holidays will also no longer end. The Financial Conduct Authority will announce further information today.