Businesses in Rutland can apply for a new form of financial support as a result of the county being placed in Tier 2 of the government's local COVID-19 restrictions.

Following the government announcement that Rutland would be placed into Tier 2 at the beginning of December, many local businesses have been able to reopen but remain severely impacted by ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

To assist these businesses, the government announced further financial support through a discretionary grant scheme called the Tier 2 Business Support Grant. This brings together the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) and LRSG (Closed); the latter grant is specifically for pubs and bars that do not offer substantive meals and must remain closed.

Rutland County Council finally received notification of its initial funding allocation (for the period 2-16 December) on Thursday 17 December.

The Council can now invite eligible businesses to complete and submit an application form online at: www.rutland.gov.uk/businesscovidgrants and is aiming to make payments as quickly as possible.

The last payment run prior to Christmas is scheduled for Tuesday 22 December. Completed applications need to be submitted by midday to ensure payment before the New Year. The application window for the period 2–16 December closes on 15 January 2021

Coun Gordon Brown, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: "We've had to wait for final confirmation of our Tier 2 grant funding allocation from the government before we could open up the application process to local businesses. Now that everything has been confirmed, we're moving as quickly as possible to get this money to people who need it.

"In line with government guidance, we're continuing to support businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors and have expanded this to include those businesses in the hospitality supply chain, as well as close contact services, such as hairdressers.

"As with previous grants, our priority has to be to support those businesses with ongoing fixed property costs. Regrettably, because we only have a small amount of funding from the government, we cannot widen the scope of this discretionary funding to include businesses without fixed property costs. If we did this we would not have enough money to support all the businesses."

For more information about financial support and advice available to Rutland businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, including details of how to apply for a Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) grant, visit: www.rutland.gov.uk/businesscovidgrants.