North West Leicestershire District Council says it is 'standing side by side' with local businesses during the Coronavirus crisis.

The Government has given £1million to the council in order to further support small businesses that have previously not qualified for Covid-19 grants.

However, council leader Richard Blunt says that the seven-figure handout still falls short of what they would like to offer.

NWLDC has announced applications are now open for eligible small businesses in North West Leicestershire to receive grants through the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund (LADGF).

The maximum grant available through the discretionary scheme is £10,000 with the majority of payments expected to be significantly smaller so the council can distribute the £1 million fund as widely as possible.

NWLDC adds it is anticipating a high number of applications but explained the majority of this funding will be in line with the Government's national priorities:

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces

• Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own business rates assessment

• Bed and breakfasts that pay council tax instead of business rates

• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.

Other types of businesses who can demonstrate a significant impact to their business income due to pandemic restrictions and continue to pay relatively high and ongoing fixed costs are also being encouraged to apply.

This latest round of financial business support is in addition to the £18 million in small business and retail, hospitality and leisure grants the council has already distributed to businesses in North West Leicestershire.

Businesses who have already received a grant or are eligible for other funding schemes will not be eligible for this new discretionary scheme.

Councillor Blunt, Leader of NWLDC, said: "This is an opportunity for us to direct more funding to the North West Leicestershire small businesses that need it most, supporting them to survive these challenging times so they can thrive in the future as we recover and rebuild from this pandemic.

"We're standing side by side with our businesses now so that they can be there for our communities long into the future, providing services, offering and employment and ensuring economic prosperity for the district.

"The £1million of funding from Government is helpful but does fall short of what we'd like to be able to distribute to small businesses, and we'll be working hard to distribute this money as fairly as possible."

Businesses can find more information and apply for the Discretionary Grants Fund online at Business Support

Applications will close at 11.59pm on Sunday, June 14, 2020, with the first grants payments planned from Monday, June 22, 2020.