The next special summer holiday clinic offering measles and other vaccinations is at Southport’s Linaker Family Wellbeing Centre on Thursday 7th August.

Details here

Business Rates - Subsidy Control

Subsidy Control, previously known as state aid, is a legal framework that controls the giving of subsidies.

A subsidy refers to a grant, a tax relief, a loan, or other form of financial assistance paid from public resources. Public authorities giving subsides must comply with the UK’s international subsidy control commitments. The subsidy control legislation provides the framework for a new, UK-wide subsidy control regime.

Business rates discretionary reliefs including Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief and Supporting Small Business Rate relief are subject to the Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) limits under the Subsidy Control Act. This means no recipient can receive more than £315,000 over a 3-year period. These 3 years are made up of the current financial year and the 2 previous financial years.

When considering an application for discretionary rate relief, we need to know if you or any company in your group of businesses has received Subsidy or if you expect to receive any Subsidy in the current financial year or the previous two financial years.

A business which receives any reliefs or grants from Sefton Council must agree to inform the Council if they are in breach of Subsidy Control. Any business which received relief, or any other financial assistance should keep necessary documentation to evidence this.

The Council will automatically withhold reliefs where it is clear the ratepayer will, or is likely to, exceed the MFA limit.

The Government and Sefton MBC will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain support awards, including claiming support above these thresholds. A person and/or business that falsely applies for any relief or provides false information or makes false representation in order to gain support may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.

Further details about Subsidy Control can be found at the Government website here.

You can complete a Subsidy Control Declaration form online.

To search and check how much subsidy has been awarded to a business please go to the View subsidies awarded by UK government page of the GOV.UK website.


Last Updated on Monday, August 4, 2025

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