Small businesses can avail of Business Restart grant

3rd July 2020

Cork City Council is urging eligible city businesses to sign up for the Business Restart grant, the national fund set up to help micro and small enterprises with the costs of reopening during COVID-19.

To date, Cork City Council has received 2,177 applications for the grant, of which 1,061 have been approved and 531 already paid out.

604 applications are currently in the validation stage, 118 are awaiting final approval.  394 have been rejected as being ineligible.

John Hallahan, Cork City Council’s Head of Finance said: 

“ The City Council would encourage all businesses whose trade has been affected by the COVID19 virus, and who qualify under the given criteria to apply for the grant. The grant is specifically aimed at supporting the small and micro business sectors in re-opening and re-connecting with their employees and customers. We are surprised at the low level of uptake of the grant, which is approximately 30% of eligible rate payers, but it is higher than the national average uptake.  The application process is a straightforward online process, and any queries will be dealt with by a representative of the rates department." 

Businesses can apply to their local authority for a grant of an amount equivalent to no more than their 2019 rates bill. There will be a cap of €10,000.

The grant can be used to pay ongoing fixed costs, for replenishing stock and for measures needed to ensure employee and customer safety.

To receive the grant from Cork City Council, a business must:

• Have an existing rate account with the Cork City Council;
• Have an annual turnover of less than €5 million and employ between 1 to 50 people;

• Have closed or suffered a projected 25% or more loss in turnover to the end June 2020;
• Commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed;
• Declare the intention to retaining employees that are on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and to reemploy staff on the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment where applicable.

The closing date for applications is 31^st August 2020.

You can make an online application for the Cork City Grant and view Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the grant scheme on www.corkcity.ie. 

Queries can be emailed to restartgrant@corkcity.ie or phone Cork City Council’s Customer Services Unit at 353 21 4924000.