Thursday 20 February 2014

Help for businesses and Individuals affected by recent floods & storms.

Help for individuals and businesses affected by flooding and storm damage is being offered by the Government, Cornwall Council and major banks. Cornwall Council has sent out an email (copied below) detailing the schemes. 

In some cases the Government has announced its intentions to provide relief before the details of how to apply and who exactly is eligible have been made available.

Content of Cornwall Council email dated 19 Feb 2014 follows: 

...................................................................................


19 February 2014

A new Government helpline has been set up to provide comprehensive advice and support to small and medium size enterprises (SME).

The helpline offers a free one hour call with a dedicated business support advisor to help businesses get back on their feet.

Advice line: 0300 456 3565

As well as providing free dedicated business advice, information is also available via the helpline on who to contact about pay, tax, employment rights or disputes, company registration or insolvency.

Help available to businesses

UK Storm Business Relief Fund

Set up by NatWest and RBS Banks with a £250million fund to issue interest free loans to small businesses affected by the storms and floods. Loans are available to any business affected, that do not need to be customers of either bank, and is on a first come first served basis.

UK Storms Helpline: 0800 529 8544

Help is also available in your local branch of NatWest or RBS banks from their Relationship Managers.

More information is available online at www.business.natwest.com and www.business.rbs.co.uk

Government Business Support Scheme

The Government has announced a new Business Support Scheme worth up to £10 million. The scheme is in addition to the three month rate relief and the £5,000 ‘Repair and Renew’ grants.

Details of eligibility, criteria and how to apply will be published later this week.

Government ‘Repair and Renew’ grants

David Cameron has announced new grants to help homes and businesses affected by the winter storms.

Individual grants of up to £5,000 are available to help pay for repairs, not covered by insurance, which improve a property's ability to withstand future flooding.

More information and advice on applying for a Repair and Renew grant is available online www.gov.uk

Business rate relief

All affected businesses will be able to apply to their local authority for three months business rate relief.

Details on the application process and eligibility will be announced by the Government shortly and more information is available on the Government website:

Help for fishermen

The Fishermen’s Mission has launched an urgent appeal to raise funds to help fishermen who have been affected by the storms. More information is available on their website: www.fishermensmission.org.uk

Help for farmers

The Government has announced it will make up to £10 million available for a one-off grant scheme designed to support farm businesses.

The scheme is to restore flooded agricultural land and bring it back into production as quickly as possible. More information is available on the Government website:


More information

More information about grants to help people and businesses affected by storms and flood damage is available on the Council’s website: www.cornwall.gov.uk/floodfunding

Information about help with planning, listed building consent and building regulations following flood and storm damage is available on the Council’s website:  www.cornwall.gov.uk/planningnews


Contact us

For town centres/small businesses:
Guy Thomas
Town Centre Management Specialist

                                          


For agricultural and fishing:
Peter Holland
Business Development Consultant

No comments:

Post a Comment