Guidance

Flood recovery: households and businesses

Payments under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme for households and businesses flooded in winter 2015 to 2016.

This guidance was withdrawn on

You cannot apply for this funding anymore. See the Flood recovery framework.

Applies to England

Read Winter flooding 2015: community support for advice and current information.

This guidance covers payments for households, businesses and farmers under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme. This scheme covers those flooded in winter 2015 to 2016 as a result of Storm Desmond and Storm Eva.

The government, local councils and the Environment Agency are working together to help communities recover from the extreme weather during winter 2015 to 2016.

Households

Under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme we have provided local authorities with funding worth over £500 for every household flooded. This is intended to help with recovery costs, such as temporary accommodation.

How to apply

Each local authority is running its own assistance scheme.

For example, if you’re in Cumbria, where most properties already pay their Council Tax by direct debit, then you don’t need to do anything. The payment will be made directly into your bank account and will show up as a payment from your local council who are administrating the scheme.

Other councils are putting their own systems in place and will contact households to let them know what help they might be eligible for.

You can also contact your local council direct, who will be happy to help you apply for any funding for which you might be eligible.

Other forms of support

This is part of a wider package of support available to businesses and residents, including business rate and Council Tax relief, for which you should apply to the relevant district council.

Household Flood Resilience Grant Scheme

Under this scheme, there are grants available of up to £5,000 to help make your property better prepared to cope with any future flooding. This includes things like moving electrics, flood doors, waterproofing windows etc. You should contact your local council for details of how to apply.

Find out more from your local authority

You can find contact and website details for all local authorities on GOV.UK.

If you’re covered by one of the following county councils then we’ve included links to their information on flood recovery:

Businesses

Under the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme we have provided local authorities with funding worth over £2,500 for every business flooded.

How to apply

Each local authority is running its own assistance scheme.

You can also contact your local council direct, who will be happy to help you apply for any funding for which you might be eligible.

Other forms of support

This is part of a wider package of support available to businesses and residents, including business rate and Council Tax relief, for which you should apply to the relevant local authority.

Find out more from Local Growth Hubs

Businesses should contact Local Growth Hubs for more information on getting the business support, as follows:

Cumbria

Growth Hub contacts for Cumbria: telephone: 0844 257 8450 or email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk

Greater Manchester

Growth Hub contacts for Greater Manchester: telephone: 0161 359 3050 or email info@businessgrowthhub.com

Lancashire

Growth Hub contacts for Lancashire: telephone: 0800 488 0057 or visit www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk

Leeds City Region

Growth Hub contacts for Leeds City Region: telephone: 0113 348 1818 or email businessgrowth@the-lep.com

North East

Growth Hub for the North East including Northumberland: visit http://negrowthhub.co.uk

York, North Yorkshire and East Riding

Growth Hub contacts for York, North Yorkshire and East Riding: telephone: 0300 456 3565 or email enquiries@businessinspiredgrowth.com

Farmers

The Farming Recovery Fund provides money to help farmers in Cumbria, Northumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester whose agricultural land has been affected by the impact of the flooding which took place in December 2015.

Published 11 January 2016