Hundreds of Bexley businesses are set to benefit from £4.5 million of new support in business rates reliefs following a decision taken by Bexley Council’s Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr David Leaf, and Cabinet Member for Growth, Cllr Cafer Munur.
The funding, from the Government’s COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF), will be available to support smaller business ratepayers affected by the pandemic but that were not eligible for other Covid business rates support.
Hundreds of businesses will receive the support automatically and some of the funding will also be available for other businesses to apply for. The support will take the form of a discount off the business rates bill for 2021/22 and if this has already been fully paid, then the relief may be taken as a refund.
The decision taken has started a process to design how the relief will be allocated to the relevant businesses and further details will be announced in due course.
Cllr Munur said:
“This kind of support is just what our smaller business ratepayers need following the past couple of difficult years. Our businesses are key to our vision of good growth in the borough and any kind of additional support is good news.”