Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Business advice and support

Please view our dedicated section Ready for reopening?  for guidance on safely reopening your business.

• A full range of business support measures have been made available to UK businesses and employees businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/

This page helps businesses find out how to access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply.

• Business rates holiday for retail, hospitality, leisure and childcare providers
• Cash grant for retail, hospitality and leisure
• Small business grant funding
• Bounce back loans
• Kent & Medway Growth Hub has a dedicated support line for businesses. Call 03333 602300. The line operates from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
• HMRC has a dedicated tax helpline 0800 024 1222 for businesses concerned about paying tax due as a result of COVID-19.
• British Business Bank has lots of information on supportive loan schemes for businesses.
• Bank of England and HM Treasury have announced a Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) to provide additional help to firms to bridge through Covid-19 related disruption to their cash flows.
• South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) is providing regular business briefings on their website
• Insurance – Businesses that have cover for both pandemics and Government ordered closure should be covered. Advice from the Government on 17 March 2020 to avoid pubs, theatres, etc is sufficient to make a claim as long as other terms and conditions are met.

You can sign up to receive newsletter bulletins from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

There is also a general GOV.UK Coronavirus Information service on WhatsApp. The free to use service aims to provide official, trustworthy and timely information and advice. To use, just add 07860 064422 in your phone contacts and then message the word ‘hi’ in a WhatsApp message to get started.

The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has a dedicated business support helpline, where small business owners in England can get advice on how to minimise/cope with the impacts of coronavirus.

The number is 0300 456 3565. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. You can also email enquiries@businesssupporthelpline.org

Central Government has announced several measures to support businesses suffering due to Coronavirus.

• All retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will not pay business rates for 2020/21.  Bills with the 100% discount were issued on 27 March 2020.
• Any childcare providers who are registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register will not pay business rates for 2020/21. Bills with the 100% discount were issued in early April.
• Any business currently in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief may be eligible for a £10,000 cash grant
• Any retail, hospitality or leisure business with a rateable value below £15,000 may be eligible for a £10,000 cash grant. You can find and check your rateable value by visiting  gov.uk/correct-your-business-rates
• Any retail, hospitality or leisure business with a rateable value between £15,000 to £51,000 may be eligible for a £25,000 cash grant. You can find and check your rateable value by visiting  gov.uk/correct-your-business-rates
• On 2 May, the government announced that a discretionary top up fund will be available for councils to administer locally. We are reviewing the guidance that was published on 13 May in order to design an application process and set out the qualifying criteria on our website. In the meantime, please read more about the announcement on GOV.UK

More information can be found on our business rates support pages. Currently, we can only provide business rate reliefs as per the Government statement. Provision of  additional grants have not yet been funded and we await more Government details over and above the information links supplied.

If you are worried about paying your business rates, please contact the Business Rates Team.

More than 6,000 businesses will receive a share of £40m grant funding. 

• If you pay by Direct Debit, we paid the grant into the bank account from which you pay your Direct Debit on Tuesday 7 April.
• If you don’t pay by Direct Debit, you can fill out an online form NOW and provide us with bank details, company and VAT registration number, as well as the business rates account reference which can be found on the most recent bill.
• We wrote to all known eligible businesses on or shortly after Wednesday 8 April but businesses did not have to wait to receive this before completing the online form. 
• If think you should qualify for a grant, please contact the Business Rates Team.

Once a correctly completed form is submitted it will be validated. Validation will take place within a 24 hour period Monday to Friday. You need to allow up to five working days for the BACS payment to credit the account. In many cases it will be quicker than this but please wait at least five working days before contacting us to chase your payment.

More information can be found on our cash grants for businesses page which we will keep regularly updated.

There is no action required from you. We will issue revised bills for ratepayers who are eligible for discounts or business rate holidays. Bills for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses were issued with the 100% discount on 27 March 2020. If you think you are entitled to the discount, but have not received a revised bill by the 10 April 2020, please contact the business rates team. 

Yes. Kent County Council, in collaboration with all the local authorities in the county, has launched a dedicated business support line for coronavirus-related issues, delivered by the Kent & Medway Growth Hub. This dedicated support line is now open and taking calls.

Please telephone: 03333 602300. The line will be in operation from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

All retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will be eligible for a temporary business rates discount of 100% for 2020-21. The revised bills with the 100% discount were issued on Friday 27 March 2020. If you think you are entitled to the discount, but have not received a revised bill by the 10 April 2020, please contact the business rates team.  

We are awaiting further information and instructions about other changes from the Government. We want to support businesses during this difficult time. If you are struggling, please contact the business rates team. 

Our tourism team Visit Thanet has a dedicated weekly newsletter for Covid-19 updates – please sign up for Thanet Matters here.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme means UK employers can access support to continue paying part of the salaries of employees who are on temporary leave (‘furloughed workers’) during this crisis. The online service to make a claim is now live.

If you’re self-employed and earning £50,000 or less, you will be able to get a grant equivalent to 80 percent of your income, paid initially in a taxable lump sum covering March, April and May (this may be extended if needed). The grant will be based on your average monthly profits, up to £2,500 per month.

HMRC will contact you if you are eligible, and invite you to apply online. Grants will start to be paid at the beginning of June. Read the latest on this Self-employment Income Support Scheme from the government. There are answers to FAQs about the SEISS on the government’s Business Support pages.

In the meantime self-employed people who have seen their income drop due to the coronavirus pandemic may be able to claim Universal Credit. Read about updates to Universal Credit and Statutory Sick Pay for people classed as self-employed.

ACAS has published guidelines to help employers and employees remain practical, flexible and sensitive to one other’s situations when working from home. The guidelines also outline employers’ responsibilities regarding health and safety when an employee is working from home.

Since the announcement on Sunday 10 May, the government has also published guidance on working safely for people who work in or run offices, contact centres and similar indoor environments

The Government has announced they are to relax any planning restrictions for pubs, restaurants and cafes at this time to help businesses adapt and support individuals who are staying at home as a result of coronavirus.

The Government has also advised that it will introduce a time limited permitted development right through secondary legislation to allow the temporary change of use of a pub (A4 – drinking establishment) and a restaurant (A3 – restaurants and cafes) to a hot-food take away for a period of up to 12 months only. Businesses will be required to tell the local planning authority when the new use begins and ends. If alcohol is to be sold and delivered, this is a licensable activity and cannot take place unless an existing licence is in force which permits you to do so.

We have comprehensive advice and guidance for trading as a takeaway businesses on our website. The Food Standards Agency has recently published guidance on hygiene and food safety requirements for food businesses to reopen and operate safely during COVID-19.

Yes, the Government announced on 13 March 2020 that local planning authorities should take a positive approach to their engagement with food retailers and distributors, as well as the freight industry, to ensure planning controls are not a barrier to food delivery over the period of disruption caused by the coronavirus. Given the current situation, the council will not seek to undertake planning enforcement action which would result in unnecessarily restricting deliveries of food and other essential deliveries during this period, having regard to their legal obligations.

The Government recognises that the increased frequency of deliveries, particularly at night, could have a temporary impact on local residents. However, this needs to be balanced by the significant public interest in ensuring local residents have continued access to food, sanitary and other essential goods in their local shops.

The retail and logistics sectors have also worked to minimise impacts on residents over recent years through Quiet Deliveries and the Government expects that such good practice continues. The Government will review the need for the flexibility outlined in this statement after the pressure from the coronavirus has reduced, and it is the intention to withdraw it once the immediate urgency has subsided.

Venue closure is enforced by our Public Protection and Licensing Team in conjunction with the police and Trading Standards. If we have a suspicion or allegation against a premises, we will send a ‘warning letter’ explaining that there is a suspicion and that we are carrying out further investigations.  If we find the premises has contravened the current legislation they will be served with a Prohibition Notice, and may face prosecution by Thanet District Council. They will also be referred to the Licensing Board and may lose their licence.

So far, 42 warning letters have been issued and nine Immediate Prohibition Notices served. Anyone with information about premises in breach of the regulations can report it confidentially on 101 or 01843 577000 or email environmental.health@thanet.gov.uk.

View the latest guidance on which businesses and premises must close (following the Prime Minister’s address on Sunday 10 May 2020)

At the current time, there is an increased risk of fraud. This includes risks that someone may impersonate the Council either to commit fraud against a business or to gain information allowing them to submit an application for a business grant.

There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself:

• Check the email address of the sender. Don’t click on or download anything you don’t trust – for example, if you get an email from a company with a strange email address.
• You may be contacted by someone offering to fill out the form for the business rate grant on your behalf.  Please don’t accept any offer to do this, even if they say they work for the Council.
• Do not reveal personal details, business rates account number or bank details to anyone you are not sure of.
• If you are still unsure please contact the Business Rates Team,  businesscashgrants@thanet.gov.uk

If Thanet District Council contact you: 

• They will be calling from a Thanet District Council phone line. The customer can request that they take the callers direct dial and call back that way. They can also choose to call the switchboard number (01843 577000) who will put them through to someone dealing specifically with business support grants.
• They will not ask you to provide bank details at any point on the call.
• They will simply direct you to the online form to complete if you would prefer.

On 2 May, the government announced that a discretionary top up fund will be available for councils to administer locally. Examples cited in the government’s announcement include businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charities and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates. Guidance was published on Wednesday 13 May. We are currently reviewing this in order to design an application process and set out the qualifying criteria on our website.

Tenants who are concerned about making their rent payments or loss of earnings because of illness or self-isolation are advised to check the government’s support for businesses webpage. This site contains a comprehensive guide on the schemes and grants available.

If you require further advice from the team, please email estates@thanet.gov.uk.