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COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) for businesses

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COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) for businesses

Businesses that received no financial support during the 2021/22 financial year, following the Government’s pandemic response, might be eligible for CARF relief. 

CARF relief is available to those businesses who lost income because of the pandemic and are still struggling to pay down their business rates arrears.  

Who can apply 

To apply for CARF relief, you must be able to show income losses exceeding 10% against pre Covid-19 income levels.  

Relief is capped at £110,000 per business entity or individual, irrespective of the number of properties you as a business were responsible for, during this period.  

Who cannot apply 

You cannot apply for CARF relief if: 

  • you have already received grant payments since 2020 or seen the retail discount applied to your business rates account (i.e. for those in the retail, leisure & hospitality sector)  
  • your properties were empty during 2021/22 

The following types of business properties are also not eligible for CARF relief: 

  • Advertising Rights 
  • Air Quality Monitoring Stations and Traffic Monitoring Stations 
  • Ambulance stations  
  • Army or any other Defence-related premises 
  • Any hereditaments relating to gambling or betting related activities. 
  • Bicycle racks and bike storage 
  • Ancillary areas in shops, gyms, shared offices, shared workspaces or any other hereditaments. This includes, but is not exclusive to: 
    • Conference or lecture rooms (large or small) 
    • IT and server rooms 
    • Lounge areas 
    • Communications rooms 
    • Breakout areas or brainstorming rooms 
    • Locker rooms/areas 
    • Medical rooms 
    • Meeting rooms 
    • Mess rooms 
    • Phone booths 
    • Mail rooms, Post rooms and post sorting areas 
    • Reception areas/rooms 
    • Rest rooms 
    • Tea points 
  • Parking facilities, including motorcycle parking spaces and electric vehicle charging points 
  • Communication stations or communications equipment of any kind 
  • Broadband/Wireless/Wi-Fi communication, electricity related hereditaments, Independent Distribution Network Operators, Fibre Optic related hereditaments 
  • Garages, lockup’s, store(s), storage facilities and land used for storage. 
  • Any hereditaments relating to Sexual Entertainment Venues 
  • Petrol stations 
  • Telephone booths and other types of public phones 
  • Show flats 
  • ATMs and sites of ATMs 
  • Delivery lockers or electronic delivery lockers 

How to apply  

To evidence losses, you need to submit the following with a covering letter detailing your position: 

  • Formal accounts for 2019/20 (pre pandemic) 
  • Formal accounts for 2020/21 
  • Formal accounts for 2021/22  
  • 2021/22 Business bank statements for all business-related bank accounts (including separate holding, saving and trading accounts where applicable) for the period October 2021 to the end of January 2022 
  • 2020/21 Business bank statements for all business-related bank accounts (including separate holding, saving and trading accounts where applicable) for the period October 2020 to the end of January 2021 
  • 2019/20 Business bank statements for all business-related bank accounts (including separate holding, saving and trading accounts where applicable) for the period October 2019 to the end of January 2020 

You will also need to provide evidence of actual occupation during this period (2021/22) and demonstrate that the business was operating from the premises you are seeking relief against.  

You will need to provide evidence from at least 2 of the following categories: 

  • Utility bills for the Camden premise(s) you are claiming relief for along with corresponding bank statement evidence to show them being paid. 
  • Public Liabilities Insurance for the premise(s) you are claiming relief for where members of the public can freely enter the premises (buildings insurance will only be accepted as evidence of occupation where the insurance requires actual occupation for the policy to be eligible) along with the corresponding bank statement(s) to show any one off or monthly instalments being paid 
  • Evidence of any direct trade, services or sales to the public from the premise(s) you are seeking relief for (PDQ machine evidence, bookings evidence, etc.) 
  • Proof of payment of any rental amounts to your landlord (with a copy of the lease or tenancy agreement and bank statement evidence to show the payments) 

Apply for CARF relief 

If you wish to apply for CARF relief, please submit your request with supporting documentation to brates@camden.gov.uk

Please mark your application for the attention of the Business Rates Manager.