East Suffolk Council is preparing to process the new one-off Restart Grants to help Felixstowe businesses as they look to re-open.

The Restart Grant scheme, announced as part of the Chancellor's budget, supports businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care, accommodation and gym/sport sectors with a one-off payment to re-open safely as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

The scheme, which is available from 1 April 2021, will support eligible businesses with one-off grants between £2,667 to £18,000. The previous grant schemes, the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) and Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), are now closed to new applications.

Paul Wood, Head of Economic Development and Regeneration at East Suffolk Council, said: "The Business Grant schemes has seen over £103 million paid out to local businesses in East Suffolk since the start of the pandemic.

"The latest scheme offers further support to businesses to help ensure they can re-open safely and get back to welcoming customers once again. We want to see all businesses in East Suffolk in the best possible position to recover, so we urge all those eligible to apply for this grant so they can receive the full amount they're entitled to."

To be eligible to receive the Restart Grant, businesses must be registered for business rates, trading on 1 April 2021 and in the eligible categories of business sectors. Full eligibility criteria can be found at www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/business/covid-19-business-grant-funding/

It offers a grant of up to £6,000 for non-essential retail businesses and up to £18,000 for businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym/sport sectors, depending on rateable value on 1 April 2021.

If your business has already received an LRSG grant from us, since 5 November 2020, look out for an email from us inviting you to apply. We would urge you to check your spam or junk folder before you contact us to ensure you have received this email.

If your business has not received an LRSG grant from us, since 5 November 2020, you will need to submit a full application.

Due to additional stringent prepayment checks we are required to carry out for this new grant scheme, applications may take three to four weeks to process.

Any queries on the restart grants will be handled through our dedicated team, please contact by email [email protected]