The Close Contact Services Fund, for eligible businesses in Scotland, will open for applications on Monday 14th February.
What is the fund?
The Scottish Government has allocated funding to support businesses in close contact settings who are impacted by the requirement for physical distancing and capacity limits and advice to reduce contact within indoor setting that came into force from 9 December 2021 to 24 January 2022.
The grant is a one-off payment of:
- £1,000 for self-employed businesses
- £1,500 for non-domestic rates (NDR) registered businesses with premises
As part of the application, businesses should prepare:
- a bank statement for the full month of December 2021 (this should be a business bank account if you have one)
- details of the same bank account shown in the statement (you will need to enter these separately for verification purposes)
Who is eligible? (source: gov.scot)
This fund will support businesses in the close contact service sectors which have been affected by the restrictions and guidance introduced from 9 December 2021 to 24 January 2022.
Businesses which own or rent premises with a non-domestic rates (NDR) account and self-employed individuals offering a close contact service are eligible, if they are registered as one of the following:
- beauty services
- hairdressing and hair removal services
- spa and wellness services
And provide any of the following services:
- hair washing
- trimming and cutting
- setting
- dyeing
- tinting
- waving
- straightening
- waxing
- threading
- laser hair removal
- shaving and beard trimming
- facials
- nail treatments
- manicure
- pedicure
- exfoliation
- dermatology & skin care treatments
- make-up
- lash extensions
- spray/application tanning by a person
Further guidance on eligibility is available here.
Applications will open on Monday 14 February and close on Friday 4 March 2022.
For more information, and to apply, click here.
