Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is launching a new programme of grants to help restart small businesses after Covid pandemic.
The £1.15 million fund will offer 80% grants up to £5,000 (or 60% on items purchased from 01 May – 23 July 2020) to support businesses in the region to restart after the Covid 19 pandemic.
The grants are open to trading small and medium enterprises, social enterprises, charities or sole traders based in the Cheshire and Warrington LEP area with at least 12 months of trading.
The grant can pay towards capital items business may need to recover or restructure their business to trade through the Covid-19 outbreak.Examples of the support that can be provided includes:
- IT equipment, e.g. Tablet & Contact payment systems, ICT equipment to support homeworking (Please see below for additional details)
- Fixed PPE equipment e.g. plastics screens & sanitiser dispensers
- Building alterations e.g. creation of one-way systems, building of outdoor seating, serving hatches etc.
Clare Hayward MBE DL, Chair of Cheshire and Warrington LEP said:
We know all too well through the work our Business Growth Hub team is doing, supporting local businesses, just how tough it is out there. These are market conditions that no one has experienced before. We will continue to work tirelessly to help companies of every size get along the road to recovery. This round of small business grants has a big focus on the visitor economy and follows on from the £15.5 million of support we have secured from the government’s Getting Building Fund for key projects in Cheshire East, Chester West and Warrington.”
The project is being managed by Blue Orchid Enterprise Solutions. Around 50% of the grants will be directed to the visitor economy which has been most hard-hit by the crisis, including tourism, hospitality and retail.
Inflation rose to 2.3% in October 
Bank of England cuts interest rates to 4.75% 
£150,000 refurbishment completes at Poynton building society branch