Closed Business Lockdown Payment Policy

These definitions have been used in the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment policy:

‘Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG)’ means the additional funding provided by Government. Funding will be made available to eligible Local Authorities at the point that national restrictions are imposed or at the point the Local Authority first entered LCAL 3 local restrictions;

‘COVID-19’ (coronavirus); means the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus;

‘Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)’; means the Government department responsible for the scheme and guidance;

‘Effective date’; means, for eligibility of the grant, the date of the local restrictions or the date of widespread national restrictions. For the purpose of this scheme the date cannot be before 9th September 2020;

‘Hereditament(s); means the assessment defined within Section 64 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988;

‘In-person services’ means services which are wholly or mainly provided by the business to their customers face to face and which cannot be provided by other means such as online or remotely by telephone, email, video link, or written communication;

‘Local Covid Alert Level’ (LCAL) means the level of alert determined by Government and Local Authorities for the area. LCALs have four Tiers. Tier 1 (Medium): Tier 2 (High), Tier 3 (Very High) and Tier 4 (Stay at home). For the purposes of these schemes the definitions used are LCAL1, LCAL2, LCAL3 and LCAL 4.

‘Local lockdown’; means the same as ‘Local restrictions’;

‘Local rating list’; means the list as defined by Section 41 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988

‘Local restrictions’; and ‘Localised restrictions’ means legally binding restrictions imposed on specific Local Authority areas or multiple Local Authority areas, where the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care requires the closure of businesses in a local area under regulations made using powers in Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 in response to the threat posed by coronavirus and commonly as part of a wider set of measures;

‘Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme (Closed); means the grant scheme which is applicable to businesses forced to close under either LCAL2 or LCAL3;

Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme (Closed Addendum) Tier 4; means the grant scheme which is applicable to businesses forced to close under LCAL4;

Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme (Closed) Addendum 5th January 2021 onwards; means the grant scheme which is applicable to businesses forced to close under widespread national restrictions from 5th January 2021;

Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme (Open); means the grant scheme developed by the Council in response to an announcement made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy made on 22nd October 2020 and which is applicable to businesses that are still Braintree District Council/Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment 3 open but severely impacted by the restrictions imposed by LCAL2 and LCAL3. It does not apply in LCAL 4;

Local Restrictions Support Grant Scheme (Sector); means the grant scheme which is applicable to businesses that have been required to close on a national basis since 23rd March 2020 due to restrictions being put in place to manage coronavirus. This scheme does not apply in LCAL4

‘Rateable value’; means the rateable value for the hereditament shown in the Council’s local rating list at the date of the local restrictions;

‘Ratepayer’; means the person who will receive the grant will be the person who, according to the Council’s records, was the ratepayer liable for occupied rates in respect of the hereditament at the date of the local restrictions;

‘State Aid Framework’; means the Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak published on 19 March 2020; and

‘Temporary Framework for State aid’; means the same as the ‘State Aid Framework’.