Welcome to the latest edition of our South and Vale Business Support newsletter!

Small Business Grant Scheme

The Government is providing additional funding for Local Authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBRR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered relief.

This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.


Expanded Retail Discount Grant

The Government’s package of measures to support businesses include grant funding of up to £25,000 for businesses in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure businesses) which, as at 11 March 2020, have a property with a rateable value of less than £51,000.

The guidance states that:

  • For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of up to £15,000, they will receive a grant of £10,000

  • For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000, they will receive a grant of £25,000

We would like to put together a list of all businesses in South and Vale who are still operating during the COVID-19 crisis.

We are looking for a range of businesses, including fresh food, restaurants and cafés, takeaway services, clothing, books, homeware, florists, bicycle repair, fitness and leisure, and more.

If your business is still trading, let us know and we can promote your services!

See Oxford City Council's example directory here.
We've been brainstorming ways in that we can help our local businesses get through the COVID-19 crisis, and we'd like your help!

We'd like businesses to let us know what support subjects you'd like SVBS to feature in the next month.


These can range from help on marketing and websites, to finance, skills and more. So far, it has been suggested that we could run a webinar on how to build on your SEO.

If you've got an idea, please get in touch.
Harwell start-up designs app to help with social distancing

UK start-up company Lanterne has developed a free app that will help us observe social distancing more effectively, to break the transmission rate of the Coronavirus.

The soon-to-be-launched ‘Keep Your Distance’ app will provide real-time live data on the busyness of essential places that people need to visit, such as supermarkets and pharmacies.


The technology will enable people to decide whether or not it is a good time to visit these places, and if one is particularly crowded, users are presented with less crowded alternatives nearby.

Find out more here.
COVID-19 Innovation Funding Competition now open

Innovate UK are investing up to £20 million in innovation projects in a COVID-19 funding competition.

The aim of this competition is to support UK businesses to focus on emerging or increasing needs of society and industries during and following the Covid-19 pandemic.

By fast-tracking innovation, the UK will be better placed to maintain employment levels, a competitive position in global markets and make the UK more resilient to similar disruption.

The competition closes on 17 April 2020 at 12:00pm.

Discover how to apply.
Sport England Coronavirus package

Sport England are making up to £195 million of funding available to help the sport and physical activity sector through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Alongside this, given cash flow concerns in the sector, Sport England have also agreed to consider requests to release six months of the coming year’s funding (50% of awards) to their partners, meaning additional funding will be available sooner.

Chief executive Tim Hollingsworth said he hoped the package would help the sector get through these 'extremely challenging times'.

Read more about the available funding.

Find out more by reading the Business and Innovation Strategy Action Plans 
on our SVBS website.

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