Government pledges £617m to small businesses in co-working spaces

The government has announced an extra £617m in funding to support small companies working in serviced offices, and other types of tenants that are not eligible for business rates relief. The fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing, fixed, property-related costs. The allocation of funding will be at the discretion of local authorities. Local authorities have been asked to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for small business rates relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates. The amount marks an additional 5% top-up to the £12.33bn funding allocated to the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. Businesses must employ under 50 employees, and be able to demonstrate that they have seen a significant drop of income as a result of coronavirus restriction measures. The maximum grant payment is £25,000. There will also be grants of £10,000, and under £10,000. Further guidance for local authorities will be set out “shortly”. John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, which was among the industry bodies lobbying for the measures, said: “We had estimated that 10,000 small businesses had fallen between the cracks and, as part of our remit for serviced office providers IWG and WeWork and other clients were fielding calls to tenants, set up a help line for such small businesses and lobbied on small businesses’ behalf to the Treasury, MPs and councils. “Of course the local authorities have been given discretion as to how they allocate the new grants, but we hope that now these have been guaranteed they will be distributed as quickly as possible to businesses who need them urgently. We will continue to help advise on the allocation as to who should benefit. “Overall it is great news that the government has listened to the call of small businesses, which are the life blood of our economy, and we praise its sensible and flexible approach.” As of 27 April, more than £7.5bn of Covid-19 grants have been paid out to over 614,000 business properties via the SBGF and RHLGF schemes. This represented more than 61% of grant funding allocated to local authorities. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette