Business Support Fund

A fund has been made available from the Scottish Government which has made changes to the help available through the Small Business Support Grant, which is only available to businesses who pay non-domestic rates.

Small businesses can apply through their local council for a fund of up to £10,000, and could be eligible if they get:

You can also get this grant if you get Nursery ReliefBusiness Growth Accelerator ReliefDisabled Relief, Fresh StartSports Relief, Enterprise Areas Relief or Charitable Rate Relief but would also be eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

You can now also apply for the Small Business Support Grant if you are not a ratepayer but occupy certain types of shared space. For example, shared office, business incubator, or industrial space. You must lease the space from a landlord who is the registered ratepayer for the property.

To be eligible you must also:

  • be a registered business or partnership
  • have lease(s) signed before 17 March 2020
  • employ at least one person
  • have a business bank account

 
If you have multiple properties and are not eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme, you may still be eligible for a Small Business Support Grant.

This includes properties used for the following:

  • advertising
  • anemometer masts
  • atm sites
  • boathouses
  • bothies
  • burial grounds
  • car parks
  • car spaces
  • castles
  • common rooms
  • communications
  • coups
  • display areas
  • electricity
  • fishing huts
  • fuel tanks
  • grazings
  • grounds
  • hangars
  • heliports
  • holiday huts
  • huts
  • jetties
  • lighthouses
  • lock-ups
  • masts
  • monitoring sites
  • oil tanks
  • peat mosses
  • piers
  • pigeon lofts
  • public toilets
  • quarries
  • sand & gravel
  • shootings
  • sites
  • site huts
  • slipways
  • stances
  • taxi ranks
  • telecommunications
  • time share units
  • traffic monitoring
  • waste
  • waste water treatment
  • water
  • weighbridges
  • yards

 

Furthermore, if you have more than one property, you can apply for a grant for each eligible property. Be aware that these grants need to comply with the European Union’s State Aid rules.

You need to complete an application form to apply. You can find further information on this scheme, and a link to the application page on your local authority website here. Your local authority processes the grants and reliefs. They also make any payments due.

The deadline for applications to this fund is 10 July 2020.