Support is available for business rate payers as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Find out more about Business Rates.
Businesses in the New Forest that are the business ratepayer in occupation of the premises and which have been legally required to close due to Tier/national restrictions can apply for a grant.
Businesses that are the business ratepayer in occupation of the premises can also apply for the following grants where relevant:
If your business is a pub or bar, and you have already completed a business support grant claim for the period from 2 December 2020, you do not need to fill in another form to receive further grant payments or the one-off closed business lockdown payment. We will contact you about your grant payments.
You can find out more information and details on how to apply below.
If you have not been legally required to close your business premises, or you are not a business rate payer, for example your business is based at your home address, you may be eligible for a Discretionary Grant. Further details are below.
For businesses not eligible for the Business Rates based grants, a new Discretionary Fund worth £500m nationally has been announced by Government in response to the National Lockdown.
At this time, we are awaiting further guidance on the scheme in particular, what if any priorities Government will ask us to focus on in allocating the funds. We are also awaiting clarification as to what share of this fund New Forest District Council will receive.
Details for this scheme will be posted on this page as soon as available. Please refer to our business eNewsletter for further updates on this scheme.
The only grant scheme currently open for businesses that are not the business ratepayer in occupation of the premises or were not legally required to close your business premises is the Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant.
Information about the Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant for the period 5 November 2020 to 2 December 2020 can be found below:
Businesses NOT eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme shown below, may be able to apply to the 'Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant' (ARG).
The Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant (ARG) scheme will make a one-off payment to support the fixed property costs incurred by certain types of eligible business, that are impacted (but not necessarily forced to closed) by the national restrictions for the period 5 November 2020 to 2 December 2020.
The Discretionary grants are administered by the Economic Development team who can be contacted on businesssupport@nfdc.gov.uk
The application form for the ARG scheme for the period 5 November 2020 to 2 December 2020 will be available until 12:00 noon on 29 January 2021 and is subject to limited funding.
Businesses must be located within the New Forest district and are not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant shown below.
Businesses can only apply once for an Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant.
The ARG scheme will support the following types of businesses:
You can find out more information and details on how to apply below:
Additional Restrictions (Discretionary) Grant
To receive updates about this and other support schemes sign up to our business eNewsletter for updates.
Funding has been made available to offer further support to local businesses which have been legally forced to close from 5 November 2020 to 2 December 2020 due to the national restrictions put in place to manage coronavirus.
The one-off grant payable to an eligible business depends on the rateable value of the property:
To be eligible for a grant you must be the ratepayer and your business must have been open and trading on 4 November 2020 and providing in-person services to customers. This includes non-essential retail, hospitality venues, leisure and sports facilities, entertainment venues, community centres and halls and personal care facilities (such as hair, beauty and nail salons). Where a business is required to close and is instead providing a takeaway or click and collect service, they are eligible to claim the grant.
To apply for a Local Restrictions Support Grant use the online form below.
Apply for a Local Restrictions Support Grant
For further details download our Local Restrictions Support Grant policy below. If you have any queries please contact us at nndr@nfdc.gov.uk
Local Restrictions Support Grant Policy [238.75KB]
Visit the GOV.UK website for full details of coronavirus business support grant funding.
Sign up to our business support eNewsletter for updates on business support, funding opportunities and service improvements.
Some businesses are eligible for a Business Rates holiday for one year from 1 April 2020.
You may be eligible for the 100% discount on your Business Rates bill in either of the following circumstances:
If you are not currently receiving a reduction, please fill in the Expanded Retail Discount form.
The full discount is available for registered childcare nurseries with providers on Ofsted's Early Years Register, who mainly occupy premises for provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
If you're eligible for the discount and haven't received it yet, call us on 01590 646119 or email nndr@nfdc.gov.uk
Share this page
