• The Government has distributed over £12 billion to local authorities for the Small Business Grants Scheme.
• More than £6 billion has already been paid out to half a million business properties.
• For Crawley, in excess of £12 million has been allocated to support up to 854 firms.

At the start of this week 447 businesses in Crawley had already received grants as part of the Government’s Small Business Grants Scheme. In total, more than £6,645,000 has made its way to small firms in the area already.

In recognition of the extraordinary pressures facing small businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Government launched the Small Business Grants Scheme, backed by £12.3 billion. The funding is provided to local authorities, who are then able to offer grants of up to £10,000 to small businesses, and up to £25,000 for eligible leisure, retail and hospitality businesses.

Since the scheme’s launch in March, £6.1 billion has already been paid out to 491,725 business properties across England, including 447 in Crawley as of last week.

In total, Crawley has been provided with £12,102,000, which could help as many as 854 businesses across the town.

Henry said;

“This is a hugely challenging time for businesses, especially for the smaller firms that are at the heart of our local community in Crawley.

“It’s very reassuring to know that the support announced by the Government has reached 447 businesses in Crawley so far, and is helping to protect people’s livelihoods.

“I’m grateful for the hard work being done across local and national government in an effort to get support where it’s needed.”

The Government is providing a huge and unprecedented package of support to help small businesses during the coronavirus outbreak, including:

• Helping to pay people’s wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, including for more than a million people who are employed by the 140,000 businesses which applied for the scheme in the first day alone.
• Introducing the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to provide loans of up to £5 million, interest free for 12 months, to small businesses.
• Taking all retail, leisure and hospitality businesses out of business rates altogether for the next year.
• Assisting small and medium-sized businesses with the cost of paying Statutory Sick Pay for employees off because of COVID-19.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma, added;

“I am very grateful to local authorities who have been working flat out to ensure these vital funds get to hard-pressed small business owners. Government is doing everything we can to support individual councils and help ensure that these grants reach local firms as soon as possible. I urge everyone to keep working at pace to get the money where it is needed quickly.”