COVID grants are expected to be dished out to Slough businesses later this year if senior councillors approve the scheme.

Slough Borough Council has been allocated about £7.7m to help businesses still feeling the effects of the pandemic keep afloat as well as attract new organisations to the town.

The money has come from the government’s £1.5bn Covid-19 additional relief fund (CARF) and is for businesses affected by the pandemic but are ineligible for existing support linked to business rates.

CARF was announced in March 2021, but guidance was not published until December. The council has until this September to agree and implement the scheme as it is paid as a business rate rather than a cash payment.

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It is estimated the £7.7m would provide over £5,480 to 329 businesses.

Organisations operating in the freight sector will also get a slice of the relief as the impact of the pandemic on Heathrow Airport would have a knock-on effect on it. It is estimated CARF would provide £1,830 to 92 businesses.

In order to retain a small amount of the funding, which is about £390,000, the council is considering individual applications from businesses not paid that can show they have been directly impacted by the pandemic.

In a report due to be heard by senior councillors, it states: “The provision of additional relief to those businesses who have been impacted by Covid 19 should particularly help smaller businesses with much needed financial assistance.

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“This will in turn assist businesses to continue to operate and employ local people. Therefore, this proposal should have a positive impact on working-age adults.”

Businesses who have been eligible for previous Covid grant schemes, such as the extended retail discount – which covered retail, hospitality, and leisure – and airport and ground operations support scheme will not be awarded.

Banks, building societies, solicitors, architects, Royal Mail, private and public schools, warehouses, self-storage, and more are also excluded.

Senior councillors are expected to approve the implementation of the CARF scheme at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, May 17.