Hisbah LLP

Chartered Certified Accountants

Covid Update: Government business grants have finally arrived

Eligible businesses do not need to apply for these grants; the money will be paid automatically based upon the data Birmingham City Council hold about you.

Grants totalling more than £231 million will begin to be paid to eligible businesses in Birmingham, as part of the Government’s COVID-19 support package.

For those businesses who automatically qualify (small business, retail, leisure or hospitality grants), payments will be made in phases depending upon existing data held by the council to verify eligibility, with businesses encouraged to speed up the process by supplying bank, business and correspondence details through the form below.

The only action you as a business need to take is to ensure you have supplied us with as much information as you can about your business, we can then process the payment as quickly as possible.

Due to the extremely high number of grants that we need to process, it may take several weeks for some transactions to be cleared so we would encourage businesses to be patient.

We will prioritise those businesses which can be verified quickly, such as those whose bank details we already hold through direct debit payments but for those who require additional checks, it may take a bit longer.

Upload your business information using the form below and you can be assured your data will have been received and the process verified.

Once you submit the form you will receive an acknowledgement email. 

Where you are unable to visit the business premises due to the current situation, you will have an option in the online form to add an optional correspondence address.

There are 3 grants available for small businesses in Birmingham

  • £10,000 for businesses in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief
  • £10,000 for retail, hospitality or leisure businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or less
  • £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value of greater than £15,000 but less than £51,000.

Please note: any businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 and over will not qualify.

If you are unsure of what your business rateable value is please refer to a previous bill.  Alternatively you can visit the Valuation Office Agency website to find out more.

State aid

Businesses that occupy more than one property may be entitled to a grant for each of their eligible properties, subject to State Aid De Minimis limits.

  • For businesses who are in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief State Aid limits remain at a maximum of €200,000 over the current and previous two financial years
  • For most other retail, hospitality and leisure businesses State Aid limits have been increased to a maximum of €800,000 over the current and previous two financial years

Further information on State Aid law can be found at www.gov.uk/state-aid

Confirm your business details and submit

What happens next

From Monday, 6 April, Birmingham City Council will begin to process payments for businesses whose bank details are already on file and will then move to businesses who supply them via the online form. Letters will be sent to confirm when payment has been made.

Please note if you have been paying your rates bill by Direct Debit then the Birmingham City Council will have your bank details.

rating button

Leave a Reply