In the Spring Budget a new wave of business support measures were announced to aid businesses currently closed due to the pandemic, with hopes that we will be able to come out of lockdown over the next few months.
With the Bounce Back loan is no longer available, and the local government grants used up, these additional measures will be welcome relief to struggling businesses across the UK.
Restart Grants
As with the previous relief grants, these are made accessible at the discretion local councils in England and do not need to be repaid. Similar schemes are running in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
These grants are available to non-essential retail, and businesses in the hospitality, leisure, personal care and fitness industries. This one-off cash grant of up to £6000 is available for non-essential retail, and up to £18,000 for hospitality, leisure, personal care and fitness businesses – who will be opening at a later date than non-essential retail.
Please contact your local council to apply.
Recovery Loans
The new Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) is similar to the Bounce Back Loans, in that it is Government Backed at 80% rather than 100%, and will replace the CBILS, CLBILS and BBLS.
This scheme is set to run until the 31st December 2021, administered by the British Business Bank, with a diverse network of lenders offering the RLS from the 6th April.
Loans will be available ranging from £25,000 – £1,000,000 and borrowers can choose from a variety of loan types: term loans, overdrafts, asset finance and invoice finance. Length of loans are also flexible; term loans and asset finance facilities are available from three months up to six years, with overdrafts and invoice finance available from three months up to three years. Interest will be capped at 14.99% (but will be lower in most cases).
If your business has received a different type of pandemic relief loan you will be still able to apply for the new RLS.
To apply for this loan scheme you should contact the lenders directly, full details of the loan can be found here and should be provided by the lender in addition.
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