Ealing Council Calls on Business Support To Be Extended
Thousands of firms in the borough not getting financial assistance
Picture: Chris Panas
April 29, 2020
Thousands of Ealing businesses are unable to get support from the government, the council has revealed.
Borough chiefs are calling on the government to extend its financial support to small and independent businesses which have currently slipped through the net.
Ealing Council, which has been handing out grants to local enterprises on behalf of the government, said nearly 6,500 business rate payers in the borough cannot access help.
It also noted 1,800 self-employed people and 440 businesses in the creative, arts and cultural sector were ineligible.
As of Monday, April 27, Ealing Council had dished out £64 million out of the £68 million available to businesses eligible for government support.
Pitshanger Village Traders Association chair John Martin said grants received by many businesses in the area were a “lifeline” during the crisis.
“It’s a huge lifeline, particularly for the small independents…When you suddenly close a business and you have got nothing coming through your front door there is nothing worse than ‘when am I going to get my next pound?'”
Council leader Julian Bell said: “We have also gone a step further by introducing measures to allow some non-qualifying businesses to defer their business rate payments.
“Sadly, we know that this is not enough to mitigate the huge disruption caused to our businesses.
“The situation is particularly dire for those businesses who are unable to access any of the support that has been made available and there is very real threat of businesses and livelihoods being irreversibly damaged or lost as a result.”
And he added: “As local employers, these businesses are part of Ealing’s social and economic fabric.
“They also bring innovation and diversity to the UK’s economic growth and productivity. We must act now if we are to ensure their survival.”
On Wednesday, April 22, Cllr Bell and business boss, Cllr Jasbir Anand, sent a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak calling on him to increase the threshold for current business grants among a list of ways to reach more struggling firms.
Recommendations also included an expansion to include businesses linked to retail, hospitality, arts and cultural, recreation and entertainment sectors, improved regulations for commercial landlords and to allow levy rate reductions for Business Improvement Districts.
The demands come following results from the council’s coronavirus survey to businesses which collected more than 900 responses.
Cllr Anand, added, “We speak with hundreds of businesses on a weekly basis.
“I know that the measures that we have set out would make a huge difference to Ealing’s local economy, ensuring our most precious businesses can survive and are ready to pick up when the country shifts to recovering the economy.”
Anahita Hossein-Pour - Local Democracy Reporter