Jobs safeguarded as firm receives grant funding from Coventry City Council

More than £50m has been paid out in COVID related business grants to support 4,000 Coventry companies that have been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.
The grant funding comes from three Government schemes: Small Business Grant Fund, Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund, and Discretionary Grant scheme, which are designed to help small and medium sized businesses that have been affected by COVID-19.
However, the scheme will end at midnight on 12 August. As a result, Coventry City Council is encouraging businesses, that are eligible for the grants – and who have yet to apply for the schemes – to get in contact.

The grants do not need to be repaid and can be used by businesses for any purpose. The Council are very keen to process any final applications and therefore will need to receive applications before midnight on Wednesday 12 August 2020 to allow time for final payments to be made before the 28 August 2020 closing date.
To access the funds, businesses must meet specific criteria that has been outlined by the Government. The full eligibility criteria for both these grants as well as the online application form can be found on the COVID-19 advice for businesses at www.coventry.gov.uk/coronavirusadvicebusinesses

Cllr Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, said: “It’s absolutely vital that we do all we can to attempt to protect jobs and businesses. We want to enable businesses to get back on their feet and I’d encourage any small business to get in touch before the deadline of 12 August. We want to make sure that all eligible businesses have every opportunity to contact us. We must get this absolutely right.”

Fire Protection Coatings Ltd, a Coventry business that manufactures and distributes fire protective products, will be able to continue operating after receiving the grant funding from Coventry City Council during the pandemic.

The business was founded in 2002 and employs 20 staff. The company moulds specialist coatings for the hydrocarbon industry and the sale of coatings and fire barriers to the construction industry.

Following a successful year, the pandemic has hit the company very hard, with sales down by 70%. They applied for funding through the discretionary grant scheme which the Council is administering. Their application was successful, and they received £10,000, which will help the business retain staff returning to work after being furloughed.
Cllr Jim O’Boyle added: “This is a great example of the necessity for the support to local companies. We know that there are still businesses that clearly need help, and we want to make sure as many Coventry businesses as possible benefit.”

Yvonne Atkins, HR Manager, Fire Protection Coatings said: “The funding is a valuable lifeline to our business and employees. We got the grant decision within a week, it was really quick. Although we will see some recovery by October, it is likely to take 12 months for our supply-chain to get back to normal. The funding will enable us to put additional resources into our distribution as we can see the construction industry recovering more quickly with Government funding. We are planning to diversify and are already introducing a new range of fire extinguishers and protective timber coating to our range.
This is the second time that Fire Protection Coatings has received grant funding through Coventry City Council. The business also applied for European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) through the Innovation and Green Business Programmes that are being delivered by the Council. They received £9k through the Innovation programme to develop a new fire protection coating system and have just had an energy efficiency audit completed through the green business programme, identifying where energy and resource efficiencies can be made to reduce their energy bills.
Yvonne added: “Our manufacturing side will remain depressed in the short-term and will need a lot of patience, before it starts to show some kind of recovery later this year. We would like to say a big thank you to Coventry City Council for the grant funding as well as other funding and training received.”

To apply for a discretionary grant before the deadline please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/coronavirusbusinessdps and for further information about the ERDF grant funded programmes please visit www.coventry.gov.uk/greenbusiness or www.coventry.gov.uk/innovation