Tier 4 FAQs

This funding is being made available to businesses ordered to remain closed by the Government including all non-essential retail, leisure, personal care, sports and leisure businesses that had to remain closed between 26 December 2020 and 4 January 2021.

This includes the following:

• clothing and fashion stores and tailors
• homeware stores
• carpet stores
• kitchen, bathroom, tile, and glazing showrooms
• tobacco and vape shops
• electronic goods and mobile phone shops
• charity shops
• photography studios and antique stores
• markets (except livestock markets or stalls which fall under the list of essential businesses above, for example those selling food)
• car and other vehicle showrooms and other premises, including outdoor areas, used for the sale or hire of caravans, boats or any vehicle which can be propelled by mechanical means. However, taxi or vehicle hire businesses can continue. For example, a customer could order a rental vehicle online and collect it in person.
• car washes (except for automatic car washes)
• auction houses (except for auctions of livestock or agricultural equipment)
• betting shops
• restaurants, pubs, bars (including those in hotels or members’ clubs), shisha bars and social clubs
• cafes and canteens, excluding take-away and Click and Collect
• hotels, hostels and other holiday accommodation including bed and breakfast accommodation, holiday apartments, homes, cottages or bungalows, campsites, caravan parks or boarding houses, canal boats or any other vessels
• hair, beauty and nail salons
• tattoo parlours
• spas, saunas, steam rooms
• massage centres
• body and skin piercing services
• tanning salons
• entertainment and tourism, such as:
• indoor play areas (including soft play centres and areas, and inflatable parks)
• trampoline parks (except for disability sport, elite sportspersons, supervised activities for children and education and training)
• skating rinks (except for professional dancers and elite sportspersons)
• adventure playgrounds and parks, ziplining
• theme parks, fun fairs and fairgrounds
• water parks and aqua parks
• zoos and safari parks
• aquariums
• visitor attractions at farms, wildlife centres and other animal attractions
• model villages
• museums and galleries
• visitor attractions at film studios
• casinos
• bingo halls
• bowling alleys
• arcades, adult gaming centres, and betting shops
• indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues (such as escape rooms and laser quest)
• theatres and concert halls ( except for education and training, rehearsal or broadcasting a performance)
• cinemas - drive-in cinemas, theatres and outdoor concert venues must also not operate
• snooker and pool halls (except for elite sportspersons)
• circuses
• performing arts venues must be closed to the public - this includes drive-in venues
• conference centres and exhibition halls must remain closed for conferences, exhibitions, trade shows, private dining or banqueting events
• indoor sports and leisure facilities must close, including:
• indoor gyms
• indoor sports courts
• dance studios and fitness studios
• indoor swimming pools
• indoor driving and shooting ranges
• indoor archery venues
• indoor riding arenas at riding centres
• libraries, community centres, town and village halls must close but may open their premises for specific purposes.

The Tier 4 scheme payment thresholds are:

Payments will be made on a pro rata basis for qualifying days only.

If you received a November National Lockdown payment then you will be contacted directly with a declaration form to confirm your business is still trading.

Grant income received by a business is taxable, therefore the support grant will be subject to tax. Only businesses that make an overall profit once grant income is included will be subject to tax.

 In line with government guidelines, the council needs to confirm that recipients of grant funding comply with all the scheme conditions, including eligibility, State aid/subsidy control requirements, and the provision of information to the local authority to support monitoring and assurance. This will ensure financial support continues to reach the right businesses.

By accepting the grant each recipient confirms that they are eligible for the scheme.

If a local authority subsequently finds that this self-declaration is incorrect it will be able to take action and the business would be liable for clawback.

Recipients of grant funding must comply with all the scheme conditions, including eligibility, State aid requirements, and the provision of information to the local authority to support monitoring and assurance. By accepting the grant each recipient confirms that they are eligible for the scheme. If a local authority subsequently finds that this self-declaration is incorrect it will be able to take action and the business would be liable for clawback.

Log in to your MyHuntingdonshire account.

Once signed in, click on 'Track my requests'

Click on the 'Complete' tab and then click on the arrow for the declaration.

This will then open as below - click on the 'Notes' tab to view any updates.

We will notify you here that it has passed and moved on to payment.

If there are no Notes here your application may have been sent for review by the team, which we aim to complete within 3-5 working days of submission.

The business must have been trading the day before restrictions came into force. For Tier 4 this date is 25 December 2020.

Eligible businesses that are within the relevant local authority area required to close will receive a Tier 4 grant for each eligible hereditament. Businesses will be able to claim for all eligible hereditaments within the area established by local restrictions that were on the rating list on the first full day of local restrictions.

However, businesses must remain within the financial thresholds set by State aid/subsidy control law, which may be reached if businesses have previously received State aid /subsidy control funding. Please see the ‘State aid/subsidy control’ section for more information.

Yes, they could fall under non-essential retail and can apply if they have a Business Rates number. Please note that when applying you will need to upload evidence of your Charity Commission number.

Yes, any town and parish councils that qualified and received a Local Restrictions Support Grant will be eligible for this funding.

A business may decline the grant.

Any changes to the rating list – both to the rateable value and the details – made after the first full day of localised restrictions, including changes that have been backdated to this date, should be ignored for the purposes of eligibility.

Only in cases where it was factually clear to the local authority on the first day of restrictions that the rating list was inaccurate on that date, local authorities may withhold the grant and/or award the grant based on their view of who would have been entitled to the grant had the list been accurate. This is entirely at the discretion of the local authority and only intended to prevent manifest errors.

Each hereditament will only have one registered ratepayer. They will take receipt of the grant.

These grants have been created to provide support to active businesses. Businesses will need to confirm they are not in liquidation in order to receive the grant.

There is no appeals procedure. It is up to local authorities to apply the guidance as they see fit.

The local authority will investigate any suspected fraudulent attempt from a business or individual to claim a grant to which they are not entitled and take appropriate action to recover any incorrectly paid grants.

Yes. State aid applies to these schemes, and all recipients are required to comply with the maximum permitted funding under the relevant State aid rules – €200,000 over three years under the De Minimis Regulation, or €800,000 under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities (lower thresholds apply to agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture business). The De Minimis aid and the Temporary Framework can be combined to bring the aid per company to up to €1 million. 

Any business that has reached the limits of payments permissible under the De Minimis and the UK Covid-19 Temporary State Aid Framework will not be able to receive further grant funding.

Excluding small and micro undertakings (fewer than 50 employees and less than €10 million of annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet), a business receiving grant paid under the Temporary Framework must also confirm that they were not an undertaking in difficulty on 31 December 2019.

This exemption for small and micro undertakings does not apply if the undertaking is subject to collective insolvency proceedings under national law, has received rescue aid that has not been repaid, or is subject to a restructuring plan under State aid rules.

Grants provided under the Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme can be made under either the De Minimis Regulation (where the relevant conditions are met), or under the COVID-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities where for example, the De Minimis threshold has been reached. Local Authorities must ensure all relevant State aid law requirements are complied with including any relevant reporting requirements to the EU Commission under State aid rules.

Businesses will be required to confirm that they comply with the scheme conditions, for example that they did not fall within the definition of an undertaking in difficulty on 31 December 2019 (excluding small and micro businesses) and have not received more than the maximum permitted funding for State aid. Local authorities will write to businesses to ask for confirmation of this.