Support for Businesses

COVID–19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF)

APPLICATION PROCESS
As part of your application you are required to self-certify that you meet all eligibility criteria and that you are not in breach of the Subsidy Allowances.
 
The full government guidance on the COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) can be found by clicking on the link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1041468/CARF_LA_Guidance.pdf

We do not accept applications from third parties.

The Government announced a new COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) of £1.5 billion. The total monies in respect of CARF to be administered in Tameside is £3,709,485m. The fund is available to support those businesses affected by the pandemic but ineligible for existing support linked to business rates.
 
The COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund will not be awarded automatically and you must complete an application form to apply.

The qualifying conditions for help from the Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund are as follows;

• Ratepayers who have been adversely affected by the pandemic and have been unable to adequately adapt to that impact.

• Ratepayers who for the same period of the relief either are, or would have been eligible, for the Extended Retail Discount (covering Retail, Hospitality and Leisure), the Nursery Discount or the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS) will not qualify.

• Relief cannot be awarded to a hereditament for a period when it is unoccupied (other than hereditaments which have become closed temporarily due to the government’s advice on COVID-19, which should be treated as occupied for the purposes of this relief).

• The award of Small Business Rates Relief to hereditaments with a rateable value of less than £12,000 covers the ratepayer’s business rates liability in full for the current year and so there are no business rates to pay, hence such premises being excluded from CARF.

• Specific conditions apply in terms of the amount of ‘subsidy’ a business receives as a result of the cumulative total of other previous grants and reliefs awarded and as such each business must apply for CARF monies and declare that they have not breached subsidy levels, using the relevant drafted declarations from Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Eligible business would need to specify how they have been impacted by the pandemic. Further details of subsidy control can be found by clicking on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-additional-relief-fund-carf-local-authority-guidance

HOW THE RELIEF WILL BE APPLIED

The relief will be applied to your business rates account in a specific hierarchy and after all other mandatory and eligible discretionary reliefs have been awarded in accordance with guidance from central government. The relief will be applied to the financial year 2021/22 business rates account only.

Any relief awarded will not exceed the annual business rates liability after all other mandatory and eligible discretionary reliefs have been awarded. The relief will be capped at the maximum annual business rates liability. The relief is linked to the rateable value of a hereditament and some businesses may have more than one property and so you may be eligible for a relief on each business premise.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US
Upon receipt of your completed application form, the Business Rates Service will check if you are eligible for the COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF). If you are eligible to receive CARF relief the reduction will be applied to your business rate account as soon as possible. We aim to process fully completed applications within 10 working days, however this may take longer in some cases where queries arise or where the number of applications received is high.  Thank you for your patience. If your business is not eligible for the COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) we will contact you by email to tell you why. 

You should not submit repeat applications for the same hereditament or repeat requests and accept the acknowledgement email you receive when submitting the application form as your receipt. We appreciate that businesses require support as soon as possible, however requests for progress on applications redirects limited resources away from processing relief applications and the award of eligible business rates reductions.
 
FRAUD
The government and Tameside Council will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain relief, including claiming support above the thresholds set by government. A ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief, or provides false information or makes false representation in order to gain relief may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. Relief will be withdrawn in such cases. 
 
DATA SHARING
Tameside Council will use your data for the processing of your COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) application.

We may check the information you provide or the information about you which somebody else provides, with other details we hold. If the law allows us, we may also receive information from other people or organisations or give information to them to check the accuracy of records, to prevent or detect crime, or to protect public funds in other ways.

The Privacy Notice below explains how the Council uses information about you and the ways in which we protect your privacy:  https://www.tameside.gov.uk/TamesideMBC/media/Data-Protection/Business-Support-Grants.pdf

The Council may share your data with The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The BEIS privacy notice can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-grant-schemes-privacy-notice/covid-19-grant-schemes-privacy-notice.