Local businesses hit by the rise in the COVID-19 Omicron variant are now entitled to more financial support.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council will distribute the money to those eligible through two schemes: the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG) is mandatory and will be given to businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors. The government announced £683m new money for this last month.
Those in this sector, including restaurants, cafés, casinos, art galleries, caravan parks and hotels, must all be business rate payers and have until Friday 18 March 2022 to apply (please note, this deadline was updated on 24 January 2022).
The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) is available for non-business rate payers in the same sector but who do not qualify for the first grant and who have been affected by the pandemic. A total of £102m was made available for this by the government.
This grant will be given at the discretion of F&HDC and applications should be received by Friday 11 February 2022.
To date, the council has received 536 ARG applications and approved ARG grants to 310 of these. Before the December 2021 announcement about the additional money, F&HDC awarded 99.7% of the original government funding in grants to businesses.
This recent allocation of a further £160,462 to F&HDC, together with the remainder of its original allocation, means that there is approximately £172,000 to distribute this time.
Cllr David Wimble, Cabinet Member for the District Economy, said: "This additional support will provide a lifeline for the businesses in our area that have most been affected by the surge in Omicron cases."
This scheme is now closed to applications.
Date published: 18 January 2022 (Date updated: 8 December 2022)