Decision details

Approval of Cabinet Members sought.

1.        That the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Business and Planning agreed that the Council follows the government guidance for the scheme by seeking applications from businesses within each of the government’s four priority business sectors, viz:

•        Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces. Examples could include units in industrial parks, science parks and incubators which do not have their own business rates assessment;

•        Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment;

•        Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of business rates and

•        Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.

2.        That in accordance with the government’s guidance, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Business and Planning agreed that to be eligible, each business must meet the following criteria:

•        Be a small or micro business, as defined in Section 33 Part 2 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the Companies Act 2006;

•        Have relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs;

•        Be able to demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis and

•        Occupy property, or part of a property, with a rateable value or annual rent or annual mortgage payments below £51,000.

3.        That the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Business and Planning agreed that businesses that qualify under the Council’s discretionary scheme will each be awarded a grant of £10,000, irrespective of whether they would have qualified for £10,000 or £25,000 under the main grant scheme if they had a unit of occupation within the Valuation List.

4.        That the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Business and Planning agreed that a Cabinet panel, supported by officers, evaluates the applications received  against the requirements within the government’s guidance (Appendix A of the report), the criteria set out in 1. and 2. above, together with how each business benefits Westminster residents and the local community and noted that the panel is to subsequently make a recommendation to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Regeneration for a formal determination.

Reasons for Decision 

1.        The proposed criteria matches the government’s stated priority objectives.

2.        The proposed criteria will support the largest cohort of businesses that have contacted the Council that do not qualify under the main grants scheme, with the exception of businesses excluded under the main grants scheme.