Community buildings – financial support for you

Government support for village halls and community centres

If your organisation runs a community hall or centre then you can probably claim up to £25,000 from the Government’s Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Grant scheme.  This is for organisations (including charities) that manage premises which fall within the business rates system.

It’s important to note that charities qualify for this grant even if you don’t actually pay any business rates.  All premises run by charities get 80% rate relief and local councils can waive the final 20%.  But whether or not your organisation actually has to pay any rates, you can claim under this grant scheme.  If your premises have a rateable value of up to £15,000 then you can claim £10,000; and if the rateable value is above £15,000 but less than £51,000 then you can claim £25,000.

Please see our guidance leaflet for more details and make sure you contact your district / borough council’s business rates team if they’ve not already been in touch with you about this grant.  It may be that they’ve missed you off their list of qualifying premises, or perhaps they have out of date contact information for your organisation.  But don’t miss out on this vital support!  Contact us (01962 857358 or by email) with any problems or queries.

Business rate relief

If your community hall or association does actually pay business rates then the Government will cover this for the time being.  This is called the Expanded Retail Discount scheme and is also explained in our guidance leaflet.

Discretionary top-up fund

The Government also announced in early May a discretionary fund for local councils to use as they feel best to support small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs.  We aren’t familiar with the details of this scheme but if you can demonstrate that your income has dropped significantly due to Coronavirus restriction measures then contact your district / borough council to see if they can help.  It’s especially worth doing this if you don’t qualify for either the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Grant or the Expanded Retail Discount scheme noted above.