Liverpool City Region Additional Restrictions Grant 3 (ARG3)

The Government has provided St Helens Council, and other neighbouring local authorities in the Liverpool City Region, with further Additional Restrictions Grant payments (ARG3). This fund is to support businesses severely impacted by the rise of the Omicron variant and will be allocated to those businesses most in need, in particular those in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors.

St Helens Council’s ARG3 allocation is £209,850.81. The Council anticipates high demand for ARG3 grant funding, therefore it cannot guarantee that all applications received during the grant window will be approved for a grant payment i.e., the ARG3 grant scheme is not intended to support all businesses that have been impacted by the Omicron variant.

The ARG3 grant scheme is now OPEN for applications and will CLOSE at 5:00pm on Friday 4 February 2022.

Key Points

• The Council will deal with complete and valid applications to this scheme only on a ‘first come–first served’ basis.
• Businesses are advised to apply for the grants as soon as practicable, and to ensure that all the evidence is attached to the online grant form.
• Any application that does not have the required information or evidence will be treated as invalid and rejected.
• Applicants will also be required to self-certify that they meet the eligibility criteria.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must be a small or micro business as described under the Companies Act 2006:

– A small business must satisfy two or more of the following requirements in a year: turnover not more than £10.2 million; balance sheet total of not more than £5.1 million; staff headcount of not more than 50.

– A micro business must satisfy two or more of the following requirements in a year: turnover, not more than £632,000; balance sheet total of not more than £316,000; staff headcount of not more than 10.

• Based in the Liverpool City Region.
• Employ 1 to 50 staff (a sole director, or self-employed person counts as 1 staff member).
• Able to demonstrate that trading activities have been significantly impacted by the Omicron variant and provide information in the free text box to prove this, for example, the impact on business turnover, temporary business closure, loss of regular business income, cancellation and / or loss of contracts / bookings, proof of loss of income.
• Trading as at date of application and continues to trade, i.e., continuing to trade with a view to making a profit or surplus (not a dormant company). A business is excluded if it is:dissolved or about to be dissolved, a dormant company, insolvent or if insolvency action had been instigated against it
• It has not exceeded subsidy allowance limits
• It is not in administration, insolvent or has a striking-off notice issued against it

Who can receive this funding?

For the avoidance of doubt, the ARG3 grant is intended for businesses that are ineligible for the Omicron Hospitality & Leisure grant (OHLG). If you think you are eligible for the OHLG grant you can still apply to St Helens Council’s Business Rates Team.

The ARG3 grant is targeted at businesses that meet the criteria set out below i.e., those businesses that have been severely impacted by the Omicron variant and that are outside of the business rates system: –

• Accommodation (not Airbnb)
• Breweries
• Caterers and catering suppliers/equipment
• English language schools
• Entertainment industries e.g., self-employed musicians, promoters, artist agents/management companies
• Events industries e.g., marquee, sound & lighting, security company, event entertainment agency, event planner/management, event photographer, event/hospitality staffing agency
• Freelance and mobile businesses, e.g., caterers, events, hair, beauty
• Gyms
• Hospitality businesses
• Leisure businesses
• Nightclubs
• Personal care
• The travel and tourism sector e.g., group travel, travel agents and tour operators/facilitators, coach operators, limousine hire
• Theatres
• Wedding related businesses
• Wholesalers

Grant payments

Applications will be assessed in order of date received as long as they are complete. Incomplete applications will be rejected.  Applicants will receive an automatic response and a unique reference number (URN) which is confirmation that the application has been submitted and is in the system for assessment.

Successful applicants will be notified by email, and payments will be made by BACS (this usually takes 3 working days to arrive in accounts).

Apply for the Additional Restrictions Grant Round 3