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Business support grant applications

We are working through a high volume of applications. Please do not contact us, we will be in touch as soon as we have processed your application.
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Business support grant funding

The government recently announced new grants to support businesses and kickstart economic recovery. The council is administering these grants on behalf of government.

Get support now

Support grants are available for businesses which are affected by local restrictions or national lockdown. Your business may be able to apply for one or more of these grants:


Support for businesses that were required to close under the national lockdown restrictions from 5 November 2020

Local restrictions support grant (closed businesses)


Support for businesses that were open but affected by local restrictions from 1 August to 4 November

Local restrictions support grant (open businesses) - for the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sectors, and small food/drink suppliers to those sectors. Please note that businesses that occupy retail shops are not eligible and should not apply for this grant

Businesses that are eligible for both schemes should complete both online application forms as soon as possible.


Support for pubs which have had to close

A one-off £1,000 Christmas grant for ‘wet-led' pubs whose income is not mainly driven by food sales, to help businesses missing out on Christmas trade

Please note that BEIS (the Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) will be given access to the relevant data in your application. BEIS will store it securely and process it for monitoring and evaluation purposes only. This includes, but is not limited to, follow up evaluation surveys relating to the business support grant schemes.

Eligible businesses closed or affected by the tier 3 restrictions from 2 December 2020 are entitled to grants every 14 days. Applications are not required, as they will be paid automatically to businesses that have applied for and received one or more of the grants above. Payments will start in January and will be backdated to 2 December.

For further information see our open and closed business support grants policies attached below.

Nightclubs and adult entertainment venues which have been closed since March are also eligible for grants from 1-4 November and then every 14 days from 2 December. These businesses should apply for the local restrictions support grant (closed businesses) for a grant to cover the national lockdown from 5 November to 2 December. On-going payments will be made automatically for each 14 day period, starting in January and backdated to 2 December.

For further information please see our sector business support grants policy attached below.

Upcoming grants

The following grant will be available soon.

Support for businesses which have been severely affected by the national and local (Tier 2 and Tier 3) restrictions and are not eligible to claim a grant under the other available schemes.

The grant will be used to support businesses severely impacted by the restrictions. The council can determine which businesses are eligible, within rules set by the government. In Leicester, the grants are likely to be targeted at businesses that are not eligible for the other schemes, or where there is a particular need for funding over and above those schemes. It can also be used for business support schemes to help economic recovery and sustainability more generally. The government is providing us a fixed amount of money now through to March 2022. For that reason we will be releasing funding in phases.

The Council is seeking the views of business sector representatives on how the funding can best be used. Applications are expected to be invited in phases, starting in January 2021.


Other available grants