The Welsh Government has introduced 2 separate grant schemes, the Non Domestic Rates grant and the Economic Resilience Fund. The Economic Resilience Fund is broken down as follows:
- £100m COVID-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme administered by Development Bank of Wales (which is fully subscribed
- £100m fund to support microbusinesses
- £300m fund to support SMEs and large businesses
Support for Microbusinesses:
A grant of up to £10,000 is available to assist microbusinesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
This grant can only be claimed by businesses that meet the following criteria:
- employing between 1 and 9 employees (In addition to the business owner)
- operating address in Wales and have employees in Wales
- VAT registered or sector/business exempt from VAT with a turnover greater than £85k, details of VAT exemption can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-exemption-and-partial-exemption
- have experienced a drop in turnover greater than >40% as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak (since the 1 March 2020)
- supported businesses must aim to maintain employment for 12 months
- only one application per businesses
- businesses will need to provide:
- – details of reduction in turnover as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak
- – evidence of business address by providing VAT registration
The grant is available to microbusinesses that are not eligible for the Business Rate Grant or the support for self-employed grant.
Support for Small and Medium Sized Enterprise’s (SME’s)
The grant can only be claimed by businesses that meet the following criteria:
• are VAT registered or sector/business exempt from VAT with a turnover greater than £85k, details of VAT exemption can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-exemption-and-partial-exemption
• are headquartered in Wales or have an operating address in Wales that has full decision-making autonomy
• have experienced a drop in turnover greater than 60% since 1st March 2020
• are able to demonstrate the business / organisation will be sustainable for at least 12 months with a sustainable business plan to trade out of crisis
• are viable entities able to confirm some access to funding to cover costs and can demonstrate attempts (successful or otherwise) to secure funding from wider sources (for example a bank, HMRC, Development Bank of Wales, UK Government loan facilities such as the Business Interruption Scheme or direct Bank of England support) before applying for this fund
• are able to confirm that funding from any other Welsh Government non-repayable COVID-19 grant funding source is not being pursued*
• are able to demonstrate that without additional support the viability of the enterprise will be under threat including the number of jobs this support protects
• undertake that for as long as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is in place, they will not make any future compulsory redundancies
Complete the COVID-19 support eligibility checker to make sure you are able to apply: https://fundchecker.businesswales.gov.wales/
Upon successful completion you will have a link to the online application.
