Dacorum Council to help taxi drivers and operators with an additional financial support package
Updated: Dec 10, 2020
The Government has provided Dacorum Borough Council with £3.1 million to be used to support businesses across the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 (up until March 2022), with taxi drivers and operators due for individual payments.
The council has said it considered the guidance provided by the Government and decided to use most of this funding to provide direct grant support to local businesses, and to allocate £300,000 to be used for wider business support to assist local economic recovery.
A spokesperson for the council confirmed that they will be using this fund to provide support to businesses that have not qualified under the terms of previous grant schemes, but which have suffered significant financial losses due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
To start with, they will provide grants to businesses in the following sectors:
the supply chain to the retail, hospitality and leisure sector
the supply chain to the events sector
registered childcare providers
market traders with a regular stall in the borough of Dacorum
licensed taxi drivers, with a current licence and hire/reward insurance
a taxi office
a business that was ordered to close under national lockdown rules, but which is not liable for business rates for the premises it operates from.
The amount of grant will vary according to the business sector, and the size of the business - based on both the number of employees and the business property costs.
Taxi drivers with a current licence and hire/reward insurance will receive a payment of £750, with taxi and private hire operators receiving varied payments, depending on the amount of employees they have, ranging from £1,000 to £2,000.
Full details of the amounts across all sectors are shown below:
There are a number of other conditions that a business must meet in order to qualify for a grant:
it must have been trading as a going concern on 4 November 2020 (the day before the national lockdown started)
it must not be insolvent, in liquidation or have had a striking-off notice issued
it must be compliant with State Aid rules when receiving the grant
it must have suffered significant financial losses due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
it must not be using the grant as a wage supplement, but can be used to support a business that a self-employed person runs
it must provide any information requested by us to validate information provided within the application. This information may be requested during the application process, or as part of follow-up checks after payment has been made.
Those who feel they qualify for a grant, can apply via the Dacorum Borough Council website.
