Eligible City of Wolverhampton businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors can now apply for an additional one-off national lockdown grant of up to £9,000.

The application process is now also open to the latest Local Restrictions Support Grants (Closed), which cover the period Wolverhampton was under Tier 4 restrictions (December 31 to January 4) and the current national lockdown. It relates to businesses that are ratepayers and are required to close under national or local Covid-19 restrictions.

If you have already made a recent application for a business grant then you can use this information and evidence as the basis for any subsequent application. 

A further discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant to support other businesses impacted by the national lockdown is expected to be confirmed next week once Government funding arrives.

These grants are in addition to previous Local Restrictions Support Grants and the Additional Restrictions Grant established during the pandemic, which continue to receive applications.

Please visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/businessgrants to check your eligibility for the grants and find out how to access the online application process.

Councillor Stephen Simkins, Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “I am urging Wolverhampton businesses to check what they are eligible for by visiting the website and apply for these critical grants.

“As a council, we have ensured thousands of eligible businesses have had quick access to vital funding to help them.

“We appreciate this is an extremely difficult time for businesses and assure you that these payments are our priority.

“We will ensure these new grants get allocated swiftly and that no business is left behind as our city looks to recover from the financial impact of Covid-19.”

If you need help with grant applications or have a general query, you can get in touch with us by emailing business.grants@wolverhampton.gov.uk or calling the business support phoneline on 01902 290242 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays. We are experiencing extremely high levels of demand and would urge businesses to remain patient.

All of the grants are subject to State Aid rules and are treated as taxable income.

The latest Government information on business grants and support can be viewed at https://bit.ly/32H66MX