Overview of new funding announcements on 15 April

Below is a summary of the additional funding support available for businesses in Scotland affected by COVID-19, announced by the Scottish Government on 15 April.

  • Around £220 million of further grants are being made available for businesses – including the recently self-employed – to help them deal with the ongoing impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
  • The new package of measures includes £120 million to extend the Small Business Grant scheme to ensure that, in addition to a 100% grant on the first property, small business rate payers will be eligible to a 75% grant on subsequent properties.
  • A further £100 million fund is also being made available to protect self-employed people and viable micro and SME businesses in distress due to COVID-19.  This fund will be channelled through local authorities and enterprise agencies to target newly self-employed people and businesses who are ineligible for other Scottish Government or UK Government schemes.
  • Applications for the £100 million fund will be open by the end of the month, and the new arrangements for the Small Business Grant will be in place to receive applications on 5 May.

Further details can be found here and additional information can be found on the FindBusinessSupport website.

Finally, a dedicated Coronavirus helpline for business via Scottish Enterprise is available on 0300 303 0660, between 08:30 and 17:30, Monday to Friday.