Oxford City Council launches second round of business support grants

By Nicky Godding

28 July 2020

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Oxford City Council has launched a second round of business support grants aimed at helping small businesses, charities and social enterprises through the coronavirus crisis.

Eligible business are urged to apply as soon as possible to avoid missing out on funding. The Government awarded the City Council £1.419 million to distribute. The grants aim to support small businesses, charities and social enterprises with fixed costs that are struggling due to the coronavirus shutdown, and unable to access other grant funding. Individual grants will range from £1,000 to £10,000, though £25,000 grants are also available in certain circumstances. Around £900,000 remains to be spent in this round.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management, said:“This has been, and continues to be, a difficult time for businesses and charities. The City Council wants to make sure Oxford’s businesses get all the help they are entitled to so I urge anyone who believes they may be eligible, to apply as soon as they can and make sure they don’t miss out.”

Grants are issued based on business eligibility, the scale of financial losses and costs, and an assessment of economic, social and environmental impact of applicant businesses. A wide range of small and micro businesses will be eligible in this around, including;

• occupants of shared offices, flexible workspaces or individual units that do not have their own business rates assessment

• market or street trading units

• bed and breakfast establishments that pay council tax instead of business rates

• charities or social enterprises

• private language schools that rely on foreign students

• home-based businesses

• retail, hospitality and leisure business with a rateable value of over £51,000

• small or micro workspace and co-working operator businesses with one premise

• private medical or well-being practices.

The closing date for applications is 16 August 2020 with priority given to those businesses with a rateable value below £51,000.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.