Another round of cash support for borough’s hard pressed small businesses

A fresh wave of cash support is now available – following on from the previous round of grants that were paid in November.

This financial help – worth more than £700,000 - is being offered to local businesses through the Government’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

More than 800 small businesses in Wandsworth that qualify under the Government scheme have already received cash injections in June and November totalling between £6,500 and £6,800.

They will now receive an additional sum worth around £850.

In total businesses in Wandsworth eligible for ARG support have received funding worth almost £13.2m.

The latest tranche of cash will begin arriving in the bank accounts of eligible businesses in the next few days. Recipients will be notified by email when the grant has been paid.

Wandsworth’s cabinet member for economic development, skills and employment Cllr Rhodri Morgan said: “This is another welcome cash boost for some of the borough’s small businesses.

“This latest round of cash will bring the total paid out under this particular scheme to more than £13m which has certainly played a part in helping these businesses stay afloat during these challenging times.

“I am delighted we will be able to distribute this money in the next few days.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the council has distributed more than £111m in financial support to around 4,000 local businesses.

As well as cash grants, over 2,600 have benefited from full business rates holidays or reductions as well as all recovery action being stopped for the whole of the 2020/21 financial year and the first half of the 2021/22 period. This help has been worth an additional £105m – bringing the total level of financial aid and support provided to local businesses during the pandemic to £217m.