The latest grant scheme for East Devon businesses affected by the national lockdown is now live.

On January 4, the government announced a third national lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

To support local businesses that were legally forced to close and that provide direct in-person services from their premises, East Devon District Council is now offering two grants - a Closed Business Lockdown Payment (CBLP) and a new Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) (Closed).

To check if your business is eligible, visit eastdevon.gov.uk/business-grants and complete the online form to apply.

All businesses that applied for a grant during the November restrictions should have been sent an email with an access code and instructions on accessing these grants.

The amount of grant funding that businesses legally required to close will receive is dependent on the current rateable value of your premises. Payments range from £6000 to £13,500.

If you have not claimed a grant for the November restrictions and your business was legally required to close, you can still apply for this period.  

In addition, if your business was impacted by Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions and you have not claimed any grants, you can still claim for this period through the LRSG (Closed) or LRSG (Open) schemes, depending whether your business was closed or open.

The government's list of closed businesses and venues in England for this period includes businesses providing non-essential retail, personal care facilities, hospitality venues and leisure/entertainment.

Both the November and December schemes are open until March 31 2021 but businesses should apply as soon as possible.

Councillor Jack Rowland, East Devon District Council's portfolio holder for Finance, said: "To be able to process applications more quickly and ensure businesses receive the essential financial help they need, we have simplified and shortened the form to make it quicker for businesses to receive the grants.

"We are urgently supporting East Devon businesses by issuing much-needed grants at this crucial time. In just one day, we received 700 applications in response to the access code emails, which is at least £4.5million in approved payments."

Please note, as of January 4, businesses in administration, insolvent or where a striking-off notice has been made are not eligible for funding under this scheme.

Every claim will be subject to anti-fraud assessment and account verification. Attempts to fraudulently claim public grant funding will result in funds being recovered and legal action being taken in every instance.

For more information, visit eastdevon.gov.uk/business-grants