The £900K fund will open to applications from home-based businesses and mobile operators such as driving instructors, child-care providers, window cleaners and coffee carts on Tuesday 4th  May, and will be primarily targeted towards those who have missed out on earlier grants support schemes.

A further £300K is earmarked for essential businesses allowed to operate during lockdown, but which were significantly impacted by reduced footfall such as newsagents, takeaways, and nurseries.

The funding is from the government’s third round of Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) allocation which has been recalculated to reflect the city’s business density more accurately, rather than population numbers.

The earlier rounds of ARG funding had been based on population figures which reduced Newcastle’s allocation.  This meant Newcastle, which has a higher proportion of businesses within key sectors than neighbouring councils, had a smaller proportion of money to go around its businesses, leaving the authority’s limited funding fully allocated. It is expected that the next round will similarly be allocated within a short-time period also.

To apply for the new grants, businesses are urged to get their applications in as soon as possible from the 4th May at www.newcastle.gov.uk/covidbusinesssupport as funding will be allocated in order of application, with priority given to those businesses that have missed out on funding previously, and have been legally prevented from trading.

Full details and eligibility criteria are published on the council’s website.

Essential businesses on the council’s reserve list will be contacted directly by the council to confirm payments. As part of the essential business grant scheme, taxis drivers were eligible for a one-off payment of £250, with 30% of the city’s taxi drivers still to claim their grant.

Since the start of the pandemic, Newcastle City Council has administered over £100 million in business support grants. The council are also working with many partners including NGI and NE1 to help shape plans for the city’s recovery post-pandemic.