New Funding Available

The Mobile and Close Contact funding is being provided by the Scottish Government. Eligible applicants will receive a one-off £4,000 payment (£2,000 for the period to end December 2020 and a further £2,000 to cover the period from January 2021 onwards). Once the fund opens, it will be open to applications for a four-week period. To be eligible for this grant you must:

• have been operating your business before 17 March 2020
• have lost income as a result of Covid-19 restrictions
• meet all of the eligibility criteria

This fund is for owners and operators of mobile and home-based close contact service businesses and for registered driving instructors. It is not for employees of those businesses.

Am I Eligible?

To be eligible you must own and operate a business that meets the definition of a Close Contact Service Provider in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations. We have listed examples of the types of business covered by the Regulations below. You must operate your business primarily on a mobile basis or from home. By "mobile" we mean that you routinely (more than 50% of the time) operate your business from multiple locations, and not exclusively from fixed premises used solely for business purposes. If you have already benefited from business grant support as a result of operating from fixed business premises, you are not eligible to apply for further support from this fund. Registered driving instructors can also apply to the fund.

To meet the close contact services eligibility criteria, you will need to be able to confirm that you own and operate a business providing any of the following services:

• beauty and nail services (including make-up services, tanning and spray-tanning and nail treatment)
• hair removal services (including hairdressing, barbering, shaving, waxing, eyebrow threading and laser hair removal)
• body modification services (including tattooing, piercing, micropigmentation and botox)
• fashion services (including dress-fitting, tailoring and personal shopping)
• art services (including indoor photography and portrait painting)
• massage therapies (including Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, Thai massage, scalp massage, Rolfing etc)
• spa and wellness services (including aromatherapy, exfoliation, dermatology and skincare, facial, hydrotherapy, manicure, pedicure, reiki)

The following complementary and alternative medicine services requiring physical contact or close physical proximity between persons are eligible:

• Acupuncture
• Acupressure
• Alexander Technique
• Bowen therapy or Bowenwork
• Craniosacral Therapy
• Homeopathy
• Hypnotherapy
• Meditation
• Reflexology
• Kinesiology
• Shiatsu

Please note that osteopathy, physiotherapy and chiropractic services are not eligible for this fund because these are defined as health services and have not been subject to restrictions. Individuals are only eligible for one grant under this scheme and you will not receive an additional payment if you provide more than one of the services above.

In addition, you must confirm that you:

• are ordinarily resident in Scotland
• are operating in Scotland with a Scottish trading address
• derive over 50% of your income from the defined business activities listed above
• were actively trading as a mobile or home-based close contact service provider or registered driving instructor before 17 March 2020
• have not received financial support through any of the following schemes: Strategic Framework Business Fund, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, COVID-19 Restrictions Fund Closure and Hardship Fund, Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers, Wedding Sector Support Fund
• trade as self-employed or as a limited company and are registered with Companies House or HMRC as the owner and operator of the specified business
• have not breached any COVID regulations/requirements for businesses

Eligible limited companies and partnership businesses are only able to apply for one grant per business (multiple applications cannot be made to this fund for a single business). To apply now click here.