On 15 May 2020 the Government announced the new €250m Restart Grant scheme which will give direct grant aid to micro and small businesses to help them with the costs associated with reopening and re-employing workers following COVID-19 closures.

The main details of the Restart Grant are as follows:

• The Restart Grant will provide direct grant aid of between a minimum of €2,000 and a maximum of €10,000, based on a firm’s commercial rates bill from 2019.
• The Restart Grant scheme applies to small businesses with a turnover of under €5m and which employs 50 people or less.
• The Restart Grant scheme opens for applications on Friday 22 May through the Local Authorities.
• Applicants must have been closed or impacted by at least a 25% reduction in turnover out to 30th June 2020.
• Applicants must commit to remaining open or to re-open if it was closed.
• Applicants must also declare its intention to retain employees that are on The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and to re-employ staff on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment where applicable.
• The Restart Grant scheme is intended as a contribution towards the cost of re-opening or keeping a business operational and re-connecting with employees and customers. It can be used to defray ongoing fixed costs, to replenish stock and / or for measures needed to ensure employee and customer safety.

The Restart Grant scheme is part of the wider €12bn package of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst our SMEs.

Further details on the Restart Grant scheme are available here.