an aerial shot of Hull at dusk. Looking over the Fruit Market area, buildings and streets are lit up against a sunset in the background

Hull City Council supported local businesses with £95m in grant support to help them through the pandemic

Hull City Council has administered a substantial amount of COVID-19-related grant support to local businesses over the past 20 months and are encouraging anybody thinking of applying under the last two remaining grant schemes, to submit their applications as soon as possible.

Grant support offered so far has totalled £95m and has provided much needed financial support to local businesses, helping them overcome the detrimental impacts of the pandemic.

Government grant funding for this type of support has now ended and the council are in the final phase of distributing its Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) allocation. After successfully distributing its initial ARG allocation, the council was awarded a top-up allocation. That is being used to fund three schemes – a Start-up Grant scheme to enable and encourage more people to start their own businesses, a CCTV Grant Scheme for Hackney Carriages to provide higher levels of safety and to support the night-time economy and finally an ARG Recovery Grant Scheme.

The council have just agreed the final set of awards under the ARG Recovery Scheme, which was launched in August and provides support to businesses that were still struggling to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. That scheme is now closed.

The Start-up Grant for businesses which started after 11 March 2020 remains available, but will close to new applications on 14 January 2022 – we are encouraging anyone who has not already applied to do so as quickly as possible.

The CCTV Hackney Carriage Grant will close on 31 January 2022.

Councillor Daren Hale, Leader of Hull City Council said:

“We continue to be committed to doing everything we can to help businesses suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These funding initiatives have been vital to help local businesses survive and support the recovery of Hull’s economy. These initiatives have protected jobs and will continue to enable businesses to carry on trading. I encourage anybody thinking of applying under the final two schemes to check out the support available.”

The council has business advisors who can provide information, advice and help businesses access relevant support. Information on the Start-up Grant and CCTV schemes can be found on the council’s website. If you have any queries on available support, please email [email protected].