Business grants
There are grants available to help businesses affected by the current lockdown and previous restrictions.
We set out here the grants available for businesses. Please note there are likely to be changes to some of the grant schemes as we await further government guidance. This page will be updated with the latest announcements and information.
General information and links
- The Government’s business support hub and the financial support finder may also help you identify which support you may be eligible for.
- Find out how to apply for a Business Support Grant
- You can sign up to our Camden business e-newsletter to receive the latest announcements.
- If you have further questions about financial support packages, contact us at businessgrants@camden.gov.uk
Grants you can apply for now
Grants currently unavailable
These are grants that you cannot apply for now, but may be available in future.
Grants no longer available
Grants available now
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) - for businesses required to close during the lockdowns and Tier 4 restrictions since November 2020
This grant is for businesses that were open as usual and were then required to close due to national and local restrictions during the following periods:
- the lockdown from 5 November – 2 December 2020
- the period London was in Tier 4 (20 December 2020– 4 January 2021)
- the current lockdown starting 5 January 2021.
Status update: We are still accepting new applications. We are assessing existing applications and aim to get back to businesses as soon as possible. We are currently issuing payments for the LRSG (closed) grant for the 3 periods above.
Type of payment:
- a payment for the November 2020 lockdown (5 November – 2 December 2020)
- pro rata payments for the 16-day period London was in Tier 4 until national lockdown (20 December 2020– 4 January 2021)
- a 6-week payment for the current lockdown (5 January – 15 February 2021).
Businesses that have received automatic payments or have successfully applied for this grant to cover the November 2020 lockdown, will receive further automatic payments for the periods outlined above.
Please note you may be contacted by an officer to verify your details before we can make further payments.
1-month lockdown (5 November - 2 December 2020)
- Properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under may receive a grant of £1,334 for the November 2020 lockdown.
- Properties with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 may receive a grant of £2,000 for the November 2020 lockdown
- Properties with a rateable value over £51,000 may receive a grant of £3,000, for the November 2020 lockdown.
16-day pro-rata payments for Tier 4 (20 December 2020 - 4 January 2021)
- Properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under may receive a grant of £762.29 for the 16-day period of 20 December 2020 – 4 January 2021.
- Properties with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 may receive a grant of £1,142.86 for the 16-day period of 20 December 2020 – 4 January 2021.
- Properties with a rateable value over £51,000 may receive a grant of £1,714.29 for the 16-day period of 20 December 2020– 4 January 2021.
6-week payment for current lockdown (5 January – 15 February 2021)
Please note that the 6-week LRSG (Closed) payment and Closed Business Lockdown Grant payment are combined into one payment issued at the same time as instructed by Central government.
- Properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under may receive a grant of £2,001 for the 6-week period of 5 January – 15 February 2020. This will be a combined payment with the additional Closed Business Lockdown Grant payment of £4,000.
- Properties with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 may receive a grant of £3,000 for the 6-week period of 5 January – 15 February 2020. This will be a combined payment with an additional Closed Business Lockdown Grant payment of £6,000.
- Properties with a rateable value of £51,000 or over may receive a grant of £4,500 for the 6-week period of 5 January – 15 February 2020. This will be a combined payment with an additional Closed Business Lockdown Grant payment of £9,000.
If you have more than one qualifying business property, you may receive a grant for each property. Some claimants will have made claims for multiple properties under the same claim form, in which case the payments for both the original lockdown scheme and the 16-day payments will be a combined payment for the properties they claimed against.
Eligibility criteria:
- You must be based in Camden and pay business rates
- You must have been required to close by Government* during the national lockdown
- You must have been trading as usual until the day lockdown came into force (Thursday 5 November 2020) and not in the process of liquidation
- You must not be in breach of State Aid limits
*Restaurants that started providing takeaway service and businesses that set up a click and collect service are still eligible as their substantive business has had to close. Businesses that chose to close but were not required to or new businesses opening after 5 November 2020 will not be eligible for a grant.
How to apply
If you have not received an automatic payment, please apply. Separate applications may be required for each business property.
Find out how to apply for a Local Restrictions Support Grant (closed)
Closed Business Lockdown Payment (CBLP)
For businesses that have been required to close due to national restrictions imposed by government as of 5 January 2021.
Status update: We are processing the payments for this grant throughout January / end of February 2021.
Type of payment: One-off payment of up to £9,000.
Eligibility criteria: This funding will be provided as a one-off payment. It will be paid automatically to those businesses who have applied for or received the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed).
How to apply:
- You do not need to submit a separate application.
- If you have not received or applied for a grant, and you are eligible, apply for the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed). You will then be automatically considered for the Closed Business Lockdown Payment.
Christmas Support Payment - for "wet-led" pubs impacted by local restrictions during the festive period
The Christmas Support Payment (CSP) supports wet-led pubs that have been severely impacted over the Christmas period due to temporary local restrictions.
You must be defined as a pub according to the following description as set by central government:
Open to the general public, allow free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided, allow drinking without requiring food to be consumed and permit drinks to be purchased at a bar.
This guidance applies to England only from 2 December 2020 to 29 December 2020.
Status update: Applications for the CSP grant have been extended until 28 February 2021.
Application process:
There are two options to apply. Please read the information below carefully to decide which one applies to your business.
Option a – for businesses who have previously applied for and/or received one of the following grants:
- Local Restrictions Support Grant (closed)
- Local Restrictions Support Grant (open)
- Additional Restrictions Grant.
If you have previously applied for any of the grants listed above and have a case reference. we will use your existing case to verify your details. If this applies to you, and you are eligible for the CSP grant, please do the following:
- Send an email to businessgrants@camden.gov.uk with the subject “CSP Application”.
- In the body of your email please state: Your name, name of your business, grant reference number (starting with BSG), and confirm that you meet each of the eligibility criteria for the CSP:
- You must be based in Camden and pay business rates
- You must have been trading as usual on 30 November
- You must be defined as a pub according to the following description as set by central government: Open to the general public, allow free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided, allow drinking without requiring food to be consumed and permit drinks to be purchased at a bar.
- You must derive under 50% of income from food sales
- You must not be in breach of State Aid limits
The deadline to apply is the 31st of January. We will review your application and, if approved, we aim to make payments by 28 February 2021.
We request accounting evidence to demonstrate you meet the eligibility criteria.
Option b – for businesses who have not yet applied for any of the following grants:
- Local Restrictions Support Grant (closed)
- Local Restrictions Support Grant (open)
- Additional Restrictions Grant.
How to apply
If you have not previously applied for any of the grants listed above, you must fill out an application form.
Find out how to apply for a Christmas Support Payment for "wet-led" pubs
Grants currently unavailable
These are grants that you cannot apply for now, but may be available in future.
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Sector) - for sectors required by Government to close
This grant is for businesses in sectors required to close since 23 March 2020, namely nightclubs, dance halls, sexual entertainment venues and hostess bars.
Status update: This scheme is currently superseded by the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) (Closed). Businesses in impacted sectors will receive closure grants as set out above for the period of lockdown as well as a pro-rata backdated payment from the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) (Sector) for the period 1 November to 4 November 2020. If these businesses are still required to be closed at the end of lockdown, the grant will reopen automatically.
Type of payment: Recurring payment per 14-day restriction period.
- Properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under will receive a grant of £667 (per 14-day qualifying restriction period)
- Properties with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 will receive a grant of £1,000 (per 14-day qualifying restriction period)
- Properties with a rateable value over £51,000 will receive grant of £1,500 (per 14-day qualifying restriction period)
- You must have been required to close since 23 March. Your business must be a nightclub, dance hall, sexual entertainment venue or hostess bar.
- You must have continued trading, but your venue remained closed and not repurposed into another type of business allowed to stay open during that time. An example is a nightclub that became a bar.
The Council is expecting to award these payments to businesses automatically and without an application process.
Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) - for businesses severely impacted by restrictions (closed for applications)
Status update: Applications for the Council's Additional Restrictions Grant scheme are now closed. We are in the process of reviewing existing applications and aim to get back to businesses as soon as possible. We anticipate that there will be a further opportunity to apply for this fund. Any reopening of the scheme will be promoted via our website and newsletter.
Grants no longer available
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) - For businesses remaining open but impacted by tier restrictions (closed for applications)
Status update: Applications for Camden’s Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) (Open) scheme are temporarily closed. We will start assessing existing applications shortly.
Discretionary Grant Fund
Status update: Camden Council’s Discretionary Grant Fund scheme was open for applications from 9 June 2020 to midday on 19 June 2020. We received a significant number of applications and are currently reviewing and prioritising the cases for payment.
If you have any related general queries on doing business in Camden, please direct them to the economic development team.
Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund
Status update: These two grant funding schemes were available until 28 August 2020.
Unfortunately, applications received after this date cannot be processed as we do not have discretion to make payment to late applications once the scheme ended.
If we received your application by 28 August 2020, we will be in touch regarding the outcome shortly.
More information on the two grants is available on the government website.
What we are doing
As of 23 August 2020 we have issued 3,850 awards to eligible businesses under the two government business grant schemes, totalling £72.4m, with more processed in the final week and we will continue to process those received before the deadline of 28 August 2020. We have exceeded our original funding by £1.26m to date.
Throughout the duration of the scheme attempts were made to contact potentially eligible businesses to apply through letters to the property, any forwarding address or registered office, emails sent inviting application where we held email addresses and our property inspectors visited a number of properties to try encourage applications face to face.