COVID-19 Newly self-employed hardship fund

Once you have applied

Processing your application

You will receive an automated message once you have submitted your application online.

Your application will be reviewed to ensure that you have supplied all the necessary information to enable us to check that you qualify for a grant and to make payment to you.

Our team will contact you by telephone/email if we require any additional information. To help prevent fraud, we will never ask you to provide bank details over the phone. Any correspondence in relation to such an application will be from an official Highland Council email address.

We will seek to ensure payments to successful applicants will be initiated within 10 working days of receipt of a complete application and the required supporting documents.

If your application is deemed eligible, you will receive an automated email advising that the BACS payment is due (normally this will reach your account after 2 working days).

If you do not agree with a decision taken to not award a grant

You must tell us why you think the Council has taken the wrong decision and why you believe you are eligible for the grant. If your application has been refused, you will in the correspondence sent to you by the Council have details included as to who you should contact when making your appeal.

What other business support schemes are available?

We have details on other types of support that is available to businesses and individuals from both the UK Government and the Scottish Government. This can be seen on our Support for business page.

Further information on support available can also be found on the Find Business Support website.

For those who do not qualify for this funding, further support may also be available from Business Gateway.

If you have further queries, please email our support team.