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Covid-19 Support for Rural Businesses

The government has set out a package of measures to support businesses through this period of disruption caused by Covid-19. This includes:


  • small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief

  • grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value of more than £15,000 and less than £51,000

  • grant funding of £10,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value of £15,000 and under

If you think your business qualifies for a grant please apply by following the link to the Isle of Wight Council website


  • 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England

  • Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – for more details please visit the website

  • deferring VAT and Income Tax payments

  • Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs

  • Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank

  • HMRC Time To Pay Scheme

There are also others sources of funding available, including the Isle of Wight Rural Business Resilience Fund launched to support rural businesses to develop new ways of working, selling their products and services and to introduce any other resilience measures as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. To apply for the Fund please download the form here

Crowdfunder and Enterprise Nation have set up Pay it Forward to enable the self-employed, micro and small businesses to keep trading by pre-selling their goods or services and incentivising customers to buy now ensuring a continuous cash flow and enabling them to stay connected to their customers. For every £1 put in by local communities the Solent LEP will do the same – up to a maximum of £2,000 per micro business and £5,000 per small business.

The Solent LEP has established a Coronavirus Support Hub.

In relation to the coronavirus (Covid-19) situation please follow the latest advice from the government – for employees, employers and businesses.