WKO have pulled together the financial assistance available for clubs during the Coronavirus outbreak into this page.

​

Updated guidance for Rate relief and Grants

​

Summary:

Definitive guidance has been published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on how small business funds in the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (including Sports Clubs) sectors will work and who gets them. It’s our understanding that if you pay rates, then you should be eligible for rate relief and, quite possibly, a grant.

​

The key facts are:

• Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of up to and including £15,000 will receive a grant of £10,000, in line with the eligibility criteria.

• Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive a grant of £25,000, in line with the eligibility criteria.

• Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme.

• Properties which on the 11 March 2020 had a rateable value of less than £51,000 and would have been eligible for a discount under the business rates Expanded Retail Discount Scheme had that scheme been in force for that date are eligible for the grant. Charities which would otherwise meet this criteria but whose bill for 11 March had been reduced to nil by a local discretionary award should still be considered to be eligible for the RHL grant. Eligible recipients will receive one grant per Property.

• The majority of our sector is on a rates holiday 20/21 and most will receive cash grants as well.

 

You should be contacted by your local authority regarding this, but, if in doubt, please make contact with them.

 

Information and guidance from the Sport and Recreation Alliance on the Rates and Grants available

Please click here to view.

​

List of local funds available for those affected by the Coronavirus

Please click here to view.

​

Information on £195 million Sport England package to assist the sport sector during the Coronavirus

Please click here to view.

 

Financial aid available to clubs (not Ltd companies)

​

Charities Aid Foundation Fund

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched a rapid response Fund to help smaller charitable organisations affected by the impact of Covid-19.

Grants of up to £10,000 will help them to continue to deliver much needed support to our communities across the UK. This is intended as a rapid response fund, and we aim to make payments to selected organisations within 14 days of application.

For more details, click here.

Please note: these grants have ceased due to high demand and may reopen at a later date.

​

Sport England Community Emergency Fund

This fund aims to deliver immediate funding to those most in need and builds on the previous emergency funds such as the Sport England Flood Relief Fund.

This fund is specifically targeted at clubs who play a role in providing sport at a grass roots level and are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of COVID-19. Organisations can apply for grants between £300 and £10,000.

The types of organisations eligible would be sports clubs forced to close at short notice, but who are facing ongoing costs around maintenance and utility bills and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity.

A specific example might be a grant to support a local boxing club pay costs for their facility when no activity is taking place.

Further details on eligibility and criteria can be found here.

You can view two videos, produced by Edwina Archer of the Active Partners Trust that gives helpful tips on how to apply.

• Session one provides an overview about the fund and some hints and tips. Click here.

• Session two looks in detail at the application form, and provides suggestions on content. Click here.

• ​

Tesco Bags of Help COVID-19 Communities Fund

Tesco Bags of Help is responding to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis by setting up a new short-term fund to support local communities. Due to the need to respond quickly to the emergency we have created a streamlined application process and payment process to make it easier to get funds distributed quickly

If your application is successful the fund will provide a single payment award of £500 to organisations who are supporting vulnerable groups. The programme is set up to support organisational need in this time of crisis. rather than fund specific projects.

Typically, the fund will prioritise organisations:

• whose need for services has been disrupted – for example a food bank  whose stocks are running low and need an immediate donation to enable the food bank to restock.

• require to put in place new services – for example charities setting up a new home service for the elderly who usually attend a monthly lunch club or a charity needing to set up a telephone service to support beneficiaries.

• Increased demand –  a holiday hunger club needs more resources due to schools closing, or a children’s centre needs an additional temporary staff member.

Please note, however, that, some areas are already over-subscribed, so please check the details before applying.

To access information about the fund, click here.

​

Youth Endowment Fund

The fund has opened a  Covid-19 grant round to support vulnerable young people at risk of youth violence.

It will help organisations adapt and deliver activities to reach and support these vulnerable children during the COVID-19 pandemic, under social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines.

To be able to make an application, a club has to support children aged 10 to 14 at the risk of youth violence and can apply for funding of £25,000 and over.

They must be seeking to deliver either digital or virtual programmes featuring one-to-one, group-based or guided self-help or interactive content or face-to-face activity that can be delivered while adhering to social distancing/stay-at-home guidelines, delivering detached youth work, activities within schools or activities helping young people return to school.

The application window will be open until midday Wednesday 3rd June 2020. For further information and guidance, please click here.

​

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Initiative Fund

A total of £200,000 has been made available over the next six months, to help fund voluntary and community activity which helps and supports people having to self-isolate under COVID-19 restrictions.

Applications can be for funding up to £5,000. The deadline for applications is 1st June and you can download and application form and find out more details by clicking here.

​

North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Fund

The fund is taking into account the Coronavirus outbreak and applies to projects that delivers diversionary activities for children and young people, promotes safety and reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour and prevents crime and anti-social behaviour, among other things.

You can find out more and download an application form by clicking here.

​

​