£4million In Rate Relief To Be Issued To Local Businesses

Bedford Borough Council will be issuing £4million to business-rate paying businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but have not previously received grant funding.

This funding is via the Government COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF).

This business rate relief is for 2021/22. It will be paid at approximately a quarter of a businesses' rate bill for the year, up to a maximum of £25,000.

Eligible businesses with a rateable value of under £200,000 will receive this grant automatically in their annual business rate bill.

Businesses with a rateable value of over £200,000 will need to apply via a form that will be posted to them.

Cllr Michael Headley, Portfolio Holder for Finance said: "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have worked to issue grants to businesses as quickly and as fairly as possible to provide much-needed support to businesses impacted by the restrictions that were in place to keep us all safe.

"By issuing this rate relief automatically via the upcoming bill to as many businesses as we can, we are able to give this help as quickly as possible to those business ratepayers that were impacted but weren't covered by any of the previous schemes."

Find out more about this rate relief at https://www.bedford.gov.uk/business/business-rates/covid-19-additional-relief-fund/.