Business advice, support and grants

The latest coronavirus support for your Portsmouth business, information about grants and guidance.

For more advice contact our dedicated business support line on 023 9284 1641, Monday to Friday.

Local and national support is available to businesses in Portsmouth who have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

• Recovery Loan Scheme to support access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and grow following the pandemic. The scheme has been extended to 30 June 2022 and will support borrowing of up to £10m for individual businesses and up to £30m across a group.
• Working safely with Covid – information for employers
• Information for businesses with apprentices – Do you have an apprentice? If so, please read the latest guidance
• FSB – Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advice and guidance for small businesses and the self-employed.

• Small business crowdfunding scheme – Crowdfunder, Portsmouth City Council and Shaping Portsmouth have come together to offer up to £5,000 match-funding for projects benefitting the area of Portsmouth. If you are a new business start-up or an existing SME looking to grow, and you have the support of the people of Portsmouth to back your business development idea, then you may be eligible for our Small Business Grant Scheme.
• Further advice on funding support available in Portsmouth, visit the funding advice page.

Businesses are advised to check Gov.UK regularly and sign up to their email alerts to make sure they are receiving the most up-to-date information.

Up-to-date information on business support is available via the government’s official social media accounts:

• Twitter – @bizsupportgovuk
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn Business Support
• Facebook – Facebook Business Support

• Portsmouth Creates– established to facilitate change, growth, improvement and to raise the aspirations and ownership of culture within the city
• Arts Council England– support for people working as artists, freelancers and in publicly-funded cultural organisations
• Creative Industries Federation– COVID-19 guidance from the sector

We know this is a very unsettling time for our tenants and we will try to support you as much as we can during this period, particularly those tenants that are most at risk.

Commercial tenant support scheme

We have  a coronavirus commercial tenant support scheme – apply online to find out what support your business could qualify for.

A £370 million government grant has been provided to the National Lottery Community Fund for small and medium-sized charities. The government are also providing a £360 million package of support which will be directly allocated to charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the crisis. This will include hospices, St John Ambulance, victims’ charities (including domestic abuse), vulnerable children charities and Citizens Advice.

Good Finance also has some really useful COVID-19 Resource Hubs for Charities and Social Enterprises.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Our business support team has a dedicated phone number – 023 9284 1641.