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On 17 December 2021, the Government announced it would provide local authorities with a COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) to support those businesses affected by the pandemic but who were ineligible for existing support.
Bedford Borough Council has been provided with £4.086 million of funding to assist eligible businesses, linked to their 2021/22 business rates charge, and is applying its discretionary relief policy to help those businesses.
Your business must have had a Business Rate balance to pay for the 2021/22 financial year (after other reliefs have been applied) and
The excluded hereditaments fall within these sectors:
For a full list of excluded hereditaments please see attached policy.
In addition, if the ratepayer is in formal liquidation, dissolved, struck off or subject to insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, including debt relief order or striking off notice then they will not be eligible.
Bedford Borough Council has automatically awarded relief to those businesses that meet the qualifying criteria and have a rateable value of under £200,000.
We will write to all businesses that have received relief and if they do not meet the above qualifying criteria they are required to notify us.
The award of relief has been calculated at 22.54% of the net business rates liability (after all other reliefs), up to a maximum of £25,000.
Eligible businesses with a rateable value of £200,000 or more will be required to complete an application form to apply for the relief. We will be issuing forms to businesses that might be eligible.
The easiest and quickest way to advise the Business Rates team you have not received an application form, or to opt out of the scheme is to do it online. You will need to sign in to your online account or register for an online account. Once signed in, select 'contact us about your account' (located in the Popular services panel).
Registering for an online Business Rates account will allow you to:
to register for an online account you will need your account number as it appears on your Business Rates bill plus one of the items from the following:
You can also use the registration process to let us know if you would like to switch to paperless billing.
Register for an online Business Rates account
If you already have an online Business Rates account you can sign-in here: