Extension to the Small Business Grant Fund

The Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) allows businesses who claim Small Business Bonus Scheme Relief, Rural Relief, Nursery Relief, Business Growth Accelerator Relief and Disabled Relief to apply for a one-off £10,000 grant from their local authority through online forms available on their local authority website.

The Scottish Government has now announced that firms who occupy shared office spaces, business incubators or shared industrial units and who lease the space from a registered, rate-paying landlord can now apply for a grant of up to £10,000, with the eligibility also extending to companies who occupy multiple premises with a cumulative value of more than £51,000.

It has also been confirmed that due to the slowing down of new applications in recent weeks, the SBGF and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) will close for new applications on 10 July.

Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, commented:

“It is essential that we do not allow funds to sit for too long in schemes that are attracting few applications, so we have decided to bring these to a close next month. That will mean that any remaining money can be re-routed to help businesses in other ways, as we have already started to do for the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund.

I would encourage the owners of any eligible small business which needs support to consider applying through their local authority during the next five weeks and before 10 July.”

To discuss your own circumstances or for help with the application process, please contact your usual EQ contact. You can find our up to date contact details on Our People page.