After the successful completion of phase one of our discretionary grants programme, we launched phase two on Monday 29 June. This will allow more local small businesses to apply for a one-off payment to help them through the coronavirus crisis.

The funding for the programme comes from the Government’s Local Authority Grant Fund, something which we, together with other London councils, have campaigned hard for.

In this second phase, we’ll be awarding grants to:

• Businesses which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis
• Other small businesses with relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs.
• Businesses that occupy a property with a rateable value below £51,000

Priority will be given to businesses and organisations that demonstrate they support closing the equality gap between the east and west of the borough

Eligible local businesses can apply for sums of £25,000, £10,000, or any amount less than £10,000 depending on their fixed costs and the loss of earnings incurred by the lockdown. Therefore, as part of the application process, businesses will need to provide one or more of the following items:

• Proof of property costs
• evidence to demonstrate a substantial loss in income as a result of the current situation
• bank statements
• profit and loss accounts
• audited accounts

The closing date to apply is Monday 13 July at 12.00pm.

To apply, or to read more about the details of the fund and the criteria we’ll be using for each phase, visit our Discretionary Grant Fund webpage.