Flood Emergency Business Financial Support Grant

A grant for occupiers of flooded businesses to assist with immediate response and clean-up costs has been set up. Subject to meeting the criteria below, each business will be eligible for a one-off payment of £7,500. The £7,500 grant payments are part of the £15m package is to support the wider economic recovery announced last week by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris

This scheme has now closed in Ards and North Down - if you have previously made an application, Environmental Health Officers will be in contact with you as soon as possible.  

If an individual owns several businesses that have been flooded, each business can be considered on its own merits. There is a limit of one payment per business. Where multiple business were trading from the same property, it is the individual businesses who can apply, subject to eligibility. If only a proportion of those business in that same property were flooded, only those businesses who were flooded may apply.

Eligibility criteria: 

• The business must have been ordinarily occupied and trading on the date of the flooding incident.
• The business was formally registered and paying appropriate rates with LPS on the date of the flooding.
• The relevant district council has confirmed that the business was flooded.
• The business plans to re-open in due course.
• The business insurance does not cover flood damage.
• The business must be an SME* and trading as such.
• The business must be responsible for the immediate clean-up costs and work to re-establish the business.

*An SME is defined as a business with an annual turnover of no more than £36m and employing no more than 250 staff.

Please ensure that the information you provide is accurate.  

Ards and North Down Borough Council is committed to protecting your data and respecting your privacy.  Please review our PRIVACY NOTICE.  

Rates Relief

Land & Property Services (LPS) has announced that businesses will receive 100% relief from non-domestic rates on flooded properties for the period between 1 November 2023 and 31 March 2024. The rate relief measures will include 100% relief for non-domestic rates on flooded properties and relief from the rates on premises temporarily occupied by businesses that relocate while their own property is being repaired.

Ratepayers do not have to make an application for the rate relief on flooded properties.  The Council will provide LPS with a list of flooded properties and LPS will automatically apply the relief to the rate account. 

To request the rate relief on temporary business premises, ratepayers can contact Land & Property Services (LPS) by Tel 0300 200 7801 or emailing applicationbased.raterelief@finance-ni.gov.uk 

Further information can be found at HERE.