Advice to Businesses Affected By Grenfell Tower Fire

Businesses affected by the Grenfell Tower fire will have a range of concerns, immediate and longer-term. Business support services can be difficult to negotiate at the best of times; this guidance is intended to steer you directly towards the most immediate sources of help and advice available locally.

Note that the Mayor of London announced on Thursday 29 June a new £300,000 fund to assist business recovery in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and recent terrorist attacks. The detail of how this will operate is being worked up urgently and will available soon.

Frontline help

Front line advice and assistance is being provided by the Portobello Business Centre (PBC), which is assessing the impact on individual businesses and keeping in close touch with other agencies – notably RBKC, the Greater London Authority (Mayor’s Office) and central government. So whatever your issue, you are advised initially to contact PBC:

Portobello Business Centre – providing a business triage service for ALL businesses affected by the incident.

Reception: 020 7460 5050

Fax: 020 7460 5054

6 – 7 Canalside House

383 Ladbroke Grove

London

W10 5AA

Tel: 020 7460 5050 Email:info@pbc.co.uk

Website: https://pbc.co.uk/blog/business-support-grenfell

Other sources of support

Kensington & Chelsea Royal Borough Council – Business Rates Relief For businesses affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower please contact:

Policy and Control Team at: LtClient@rbkc.gov.uk or call 020 7361 3276 / 020 7361 2598 / 020 7361 2539

RBKC’s Property Services Team is in contact with businesses which are RBKC tenants of Baseline Studios.

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – Economic Development For queries to the Council’s Economic Development Team contact:

If you need to go beyond PBC or RBKC for advice, you should find the following helpful:

HMRC Time to Pay Service Phone the Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) if you can’t pay in full before your payment deadline. Anyone can use this service, not just businesses.Tel: 0300 200 3835 Opening times: 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday / 8am to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday In addition, you can use the Debt Management Helplines listed below. VAT Enquiries – debt management • Telephone 0300 200 3830 VAT Payment on Account Traders • Telephone 0300 322 7818 Corporation Tax Enquiries – debt management • Telephone 0300 200 3841 PAYE Enquiries – debt management • Telephone 0300 200 3810 Large Business • Details of Customer Relationship Managers for businesses overseen by Large Business can be viewed by going to www.gov.uk and search for ‘contacts for businesses overseen by Large Business’.

Insolvency Service – Redundancy Payment Service (RPS) Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 employers must make statutory redundancy payments to former employees who meet the qualifying criteria. To be eligible for Financial Assistance under the RPS there are two qualifying criteria: 1) The employer must provide documentary evidence that they are unable to fund the statutory redundancy payments by any other means 2) The RPS must be satisfied that the former employee is entitled to receive the statutory redundancy payment.Email: RPS.FA@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Tel: 0330 3310020Address: The Insolvency Service: Redundancy Payments Office, PO Box 16684, Birmingham, B2 2LX

Valuation Office Agency (assesses property values for non-domestic rates)

The VOA is currently not able to inspect properties in the area, due to the on-going recovery work. However, when they are able to, they will send a property inspector out to the area so that they can establish the facts and assess the implications for business rates for the properties affected.

Email: ratinglondon@voa.gsi.gov.uk

Tel: 03000 501 501 and press 2 when prompted.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm.

Further support

There is also some generic business support but please be aware that this may not be specifically geared up to respond to the Grenfell Tower fire and would likely refer you the local sources of support identified above. But for the longer term you might want to be aware that:

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the central government department responsible for business. It operates a national Business Support Helpline:

Telephone: 0300 456 3565 Textphone: 0191 581 0052 enquiries@businesssupporthelpline.org Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm

The London Growth Hub is part of a national network of hubs offering a wide range of support services to business: