CORONAVIRUS BUSINESS SUPPORT SCHEME – WINTER DISRUPTION SCHEME (CBSS-WDS)
This Scheme offers eligible businesses and self-employed persons grant assistance to support local customer facing businesses in designated sectors that have been financially affected due to the trading conditions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The qualifying period will be a specified three month period and the turnover downturn must be due to either business owner/staff self-isolation requirements or a drop in customer demand due to COVID-19.
The support available under this Scheme operates in two parts, applicants may apply either for part one or part two of the Scheme, but not both. The first part is in relation to financial support to eligible businesses operating from commercial premises. A single payment equal to FOUR times the business’ 2021 or 2020 annual rates bill for each of its commercial premises can be applied for. A maximum of 5 commercial premises can be supported for each business.
The second part is in relation to a single payment of £4,000 to those businesses who do not have business premises, or do not pay rates or a rates contribution for those premises, or where the calculation made under part 1 is less than £4,000. Where a business is in receipt of other grant support up to December 2021, a reduced payment of THREE times the annual business rates or £3,000 will be paid to support the period January 2022 - March 2022.
To be eligible, applicants must: -
1. Have suffered a 18.6% reduction in turnover (15% if the business has staff and has seen an increase in staff costs by 5% or more) when comparing a three month period before the application is submitted against the same three month period in either 2019 or 2020, due to either staff self-isolation requirements or a drop in customer demand due to COVID-19.
Important note: New startup businesses which do not have comparable trading figures in 2019 or 2020 may be eligible and should contact the Department to discuss their application before applying.
2. Operate in an eligible customer facing sector as follows:
- Animal care
- Catering
- Education and training
- Entertainment
- Healthcare
- Hospitality
- Leisure
- Lifestyle Sectors, including but not limited to beauty, hairdressers, gyms and personal trainers
- Tourism and Travel
- Retail (excluding any retailer that is liable to pay or will be liable to pay income tax at a 10% rate under the large retailers tax for the 2019/2020 income tax year)
- Service sector
Further information regarding eligibility and the application process can be found on the Scheme’s webpage: https://www.iomdfenterprise.im/coronavirus/winter-disruption-scheme
Applicants who are unsure of their eligibility are encouraged to email enterprisesupport@gov.im or call 687333 before applying.