New businesses in Wales can apply for Welsh Government start-up grant from today

A start-up grant has been set-up to support new businesses in Wales dealing with the severe impact of Coronavirus.

The fund will be worth £5m initially with flexibility for the future and will support start-up firms, which fall outside the UK Government’s Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) as they only began trading in 2019.

Applications for this grant will open on today at the same time as phase two of the Economic Resilience Fund opens to applications.

There has been criticism that some freelancers and start-ups have fallen through the cracks of the financial packages that have been provided by UK and Welsh Government.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the grant will help support new businesses in Wales who have been unable to access the existing financial assistance schemes.

He said: “A number of people who have started a business in the last year don’t qualify for support from the UK Government’s Self Employment Income Support Scheme and it remains unclear if it will take steps to ensure they will change the criteria to help this group of people.

“This is why we have acted and set up a start-up grant. This has come from our work with Welsh Local Government Association and local authorities to look at what more support the business community needs at this time.”

The new start-up grant will support up to 2,000 businesses in Wales, with £2,500 each. This will provide funding to people who established their businesses between 1 April 2019 and 1 March 2020, helping them to continue trading through the pandemic.

The Welsh Government is also providing £1.7bn to support businesses in Wales. The support available in Wales includes more than 59,000 business rates grants worth more than £715m and the Development Bank of Wales Covid loan support, which has helped 1,000 small and medium enterprises.

To be eligible for the start-up grant, businesses must:

– Have not received funding from the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund or the non-domestic rates grant.
– Have been set up between the 1 April 2019 and 1 March 2020 and have not qualified for the UK Government’s Self Employment Income Support Scheme.
– Have less than £50,000 turnover.
– Have experienced a drop in turnover of more than 50% between April and June 2020.
– Applicants will need to submit a two-page application form and self-declaration supported by evidence.

Applications for the start-up grant and the second phase of the Economic Resilience Fund open from 29 June.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said: “Today’s announcement will be crucial in supporting new businesses, reducing the risk of firms having to close and people becoming unemployed.

“Our Economic Resilience Fund has already supported thousands of businesses across Wales to plug the gaps left by the UK Government’s package of support and the start-up grant complements this work.

“The second phase of the Economic Resilience Fund will open for applications on Monday providing more opportunities for microbusinesses, SMEs and large businesses to apply for funding. Submissions for the start-up grant can also be made from Monday and I’d like to thank local authorities, which will be administering this scheme.

“As a government, we continue to work hard to respond to the needs of business at this incredibly testing time.”

Minister for Finance and Trefnydd Rebecca Evans said: “We have prioritised protecting the Welsh economy from the impact of coronavirus by providing the most generous business support package in the UK – support which represents 2.7% of our GDP. But our budget only goes so far and we have had to make some difficult decisions.

“That is why we are calling on the UK Treasury to lift the rigid restrictions on fiscal flexibility so that we can begin our road to recovery and plan for a prosperous, post-pandemic Wales.”

The grant will be administered by local authorities and businesses can check their eligibility by visiting the Business Wales website.