Small Business grant fund

bateson87

Can anyone help or give me some advice please.

so you could say it’s bad timing but just before the COVID lock down I decided to close down my business after just 2 years trading. I started my business after leaving the Army on completing 23 years service, I didn’t know what to do so I started my own fabrication company in the hope to make a better life for me and my family. Long story short it didn’t work out and like I say I closed down just before lock down. Apart from not being able to claim any sort of  support apart from Universal Credit,like most people we are not rolling in money at the moment. 

THE PROBLEM 

My business premises is rented and I am still in the 3 year lease the local council is my landlord and we’re helpful in looking for new tenants and within 1 month we had a potential take over ( bear in mind the new tenants were put forward by the council) at the last minute the council decided that they didn’t want them as tenants. So 5 months on I had an empty building that I now have to pay for, totalling up-to £9113. I have submitted for the small business grant so that I can pay the rent but as the building is empty I am not allowed it and will now have to find the money for the back rent myself.  But I still hold the lease and I am liable for the costs outstanding. Another business on the same Estate was granted the 10K and then moved a few more have now been granted the 10K and have admitted they didn’t even need it. So I’m trying to do the right thing and pay what I owe and I have no help. I had put everything into this business and like most start ups not taken a wage for 3-4 months at a time. So things just don’t look positive 

Grumpy_chap

As I understand it, one of the criteria for any of the small business Sole-trader or Ltd Co. support is that the business was not in distress, trading and intends to continue to trade at the qualifying date of the support.
I think, you will fall foul of the "intends to continue to trade" criteria and therefore there is very little available.  
Given you were closing your business, what was your plan to generate income, but for Covid-19?

Jeremy535897

The issue here is as OP said. The grant is not available in respect of unoccupied premises. If not claiming tax credits, look at universal credit (a claim for UC stops all claims for tax credits, which may well be disadvantageous).