COVID-19 Recovery Grants for Businesses in Greater London Area

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), eligible SMEs can access grants of between £1,000 – £5,000.

What is the process for applying to the grant?

• Applications open at 10.30am on Friday 16th October 2020. A link to the full application will be made available on the London Business Hub London Business Hubbsite.
• Applications will be revieLondon Business Hubd and assessed on a first come, first served basis. Bids will then be assessed and prioritised based on need and impact. London Business Hub will also work to ensure that grant recipients supported by this funding reflect London’s diverse business community.
• London Business Hub will endeavour to communicate a decision within 10 working days of application submission.
• A grant offer letter will be sent to eligible applicants.
• Eligible applicants will have one calendar month, from the date of the grant offer letter, to accept the offer and purchase and receive the support/items that the grant has been approved for and submit a grant payment claim.
• Once a complete claim has been submitted and approved, with all relevant evidence provided, payment will be made to the SME within 5 working days.

Please also be aware that the grant cannot retrospectively fund activity that has already started.  Your application must include a quote for the activity you wish the grant to fund but you cannot commission the work until your application has been confirmed as successful and you have received and grant offer letter.

London Business Hub will close applications when London Business Hub reach the limit and that from these applications, it will be a competitive process. Applications that best demonstrate the following will be prioritised.

• A clear impact of COVID-19 on your business.
• Your proposed activity to address the impact.
• How the proposed activity will positively impact your business through adapting products and services to meet customer needs, building resilience or minimising future business interruption.

Once applications have been opened, the application process may be paused temporarily depending on the volume of applications received and the amount of funding remaining. If applications are paused, an initial assessment will take place of all applications submitted to date and the remaining amount of funding will be revieLondon Business Hubd. Once this initial assessment has been completed and if funds remain, applications will re-open until the remaining funding has been allocated. London Business Hub will give one-London Business Hubek notice if the grants reopen for applications and will update this London Business Hubb page as London Business Hubll as communicate the new date via social media.

Who is Eligible?

All applicants will need to confirm the following to be able to access the online application form:

• Their business is based and operational in Greater London (the business must at least have a London trading address).
• Their business is a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME).
  • Less than 250 employees.
  • Less than €50m turnover or balance sheet of €43m.
  • Does NOT hold 25% or more capital or voting rights in another business.
  • Does NOT have another company hold 25% or more capital or voting rights in the business.
• Their business started trading on or before 1st March 2019 and is still trading.
• Their business has not received a total of €200,000 State Aid in the past 3 years (What is State Aid?)
• The activity the business is applying for is to assist with COVID-19 recovery plans, and is not “business as usual” or related to personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing, or other regulatory activity.
• Their business has been adversely impacted by COVID-19.
• The grant support is vital to progressing the activity the business is applying for (i.e. the activity wouldn’t be possible without the grant support).
• The applicant’s project has not already started the activity to be claimed under the grant (and cannot have started before the grant offer letter has been issued).
• Confirm they understand that ONLY those applicants who complete a full application and supply ALL supplementary evidence will be considered for a grant.
• Confirm they understand that the grant will be paid in arrears. Businesses can apply for 100% of the costs, but please note that funding will be paid in arrears. Therefore, grant payment will be made after you have accepted the grant offer and have purchased and received the support or items that the grant has been approved for.
• Confirm they understand that they have one calendar month from the date of the grant offer letter to accept the offer and purchase and receive the support or items that the grant has been approved for.
• Confirm that there is a dedicated bank account for the business.

What will I need for an application?

Ensure you have the following information available:

• General business information such as registered address, trading address (if different from registered address), London Business Hubbsite, date your business started trading, number of employees.
• Company registration number OR Unique Tax Reference OR Other evidence for business registration.
• Relevant SIC Code for your business. What is a SIC Code?
• Dedicated bank account for your business, and accompanying bank statement (March 2019).
• State aid information relating to your business in the last three years.
• Business turnover and profit for the last financial year and current financial year, including a Profit and Loss summary from April 2019 to March 2020 (or most recent data) and a Balance Sheet from April 2019 to March 2020 (or most recent data).
• 1 quotation for all work/purchases to be funded via the grant, if successful.

AnsLondon Business Hubrs to the following questions (it is important that you give enough detail to demonstrate the need for this grant):

• Brief overview of your business activity, products and services.
• Details of how your business has been affected by COVID-19, including details of the issues/challenges your business faces.
• How will the grant funded activity help your business recover from the impact of COVID-19?
• Details of the selected support provider, rationale for choosing this. supplier, and details of when you anticipate to make your first purchase.

Free London Business Hubbinar available to support your application

Watch the COVID-19 Recovery Grants London Business Hubbinar recording which covers in more detail the grants criteria, the application process and Q&As.

Click here to access it.

London Business Hub highly recommend you watch the London Business Hubbinar prior to submitting your application as grants are only offered to applicants who submit a complete and eligible application.

How much grant funding is available in London?

The London LEP Area has the following funds to allocate:

Visitor Economy: £377, 210

Wider Economy: £1,081,112