Covid 19 sports club grants.

[Michael Barclay]

Has your club got the grant. If so what will the club be doing with it?

[Tim Flyer]

Im afraid haven’t heard of such a “grant”. Our club is registered with the government as a community amateur sports club . (CASC) . That automatically gives us a discount on business rates and we do not need to pay tax on income below the threshold of around (50k) which we are obviously well below with only around 60members . This year due to covid our business rates account was refunded. I would be interested to hear if grants are available? and conditions thereof.

[Michael Barclay]

It's called " The Coronavirus Retail, Hospitality, and Liesure Business Grant." If your club is registered for business rates you are elegible to apply. It's a fixed sum of £10,000.

[Tim Flyer]

Interesting I will take a look . Thank you for posting that 👍

[kc]

Please explain to me why any model flying club deserves 10,000 pounds of Taxpayers money!

[Gary Manuel]

Looks pukka, but I'm not getting into morality issue of it.

Check HERE

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

It does say that eligible rate payers will be contacted automatically. I'm not sure where we would stand on this - we already get a 100% small business rates discount on our field. It doesn't state that you get the option to turn the offer down!

[Flyer]

In Wales the applications for the business rates relief grant closed on the 30th June. It was administered by the local authority, and to be eligible, you had to be in receipt of business rates relief. You also had to state on the application that the club had been 'adversely affected' by the pandemic.

[Gary Manuel]

Posted by Flyer on 12/08/2020 16:26:57:

In Wales the applications for the business rates relief grant closed on the 30th June. It was administered by the local authority, and to be eligible, you had to be in receipt of business rates relief. You also had to state on the application that the club had been 'adversely affected' by the pandemic.

Does not being able to fly count as "adversely affected"?

[Flyer]

Posted by Gary Manuel on 12/08/2020 16:41:08:

Posted by Flyer on 12/08/2020 16:26:57:

In Wales the applications for the business rates relief grant closed on the 30th June. It was administered by the local authority, and to be eligible, you had to be in receipt of business rates relief. You also had to state on the application that the club had been 'adversely affected' by the pandemic.

Does not being able to fly count as "adversely affected"?

Seems everytime I pick up a transmitter I am adversely affected

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I would imagine some clubs have been affected, lost money via membership reducing, maybe quite a few flyers have had to choose between hobby or family, not all people have the same income/savings. Tough days.

We heard nowt but haven't gone looking, some lads haven't been seen nor heard since this set off, post been put on our facebook site, anyone struggling please get in touch, we'll help as much as we can.

£10,000 ? sounds a lot, guess they did it for simplicity, democracy.

[Michael Barclay]

I thought it was worth bringing this to the attention of the forum. The morality of it is up to individual clubs. I do not understand why the BMFA did not bring this to the attention of clubs. Our club was contacted by the council and advised to apply. We got the 10k.

My original post asked for suggestions on how to spend the money to best benefit the club and the future of our hobby.

Mike.

[Bob Cotsford]

If you are on a restricted access site then you could invest in starting benches, maybe a container if it's allowed, new flightline safety fences, reseeding the runway - send it to me, I'm sure my club could find ways to spend 10K

Trainer and buddy box setups and invite the local scouts, schools etc for a flight experience day?

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 12/08/2020 20:10:53

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I don't begrudge your club the money Michael, plenty being chucked at other parties, how to spend it ? Question for your members.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Tim Flyer]

I found this **LINK**

it does say the grant will be taxable which worries me slightly... I guess even so our club income isn’t enough to be taxable at only around 6k per year

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by Tim Flyer on 12/08/2020 21:11:56:

I found this **LINK**

it does say the grant will be taxable which worries me slightly... I guess even so our club income isn’t enough to be taxable at only around 6k per year

Quote, Gov.I'M

" The grant will be paid to the person registered as the ratepayer for the property as of 11 March 2020.

You do not have to pay the grant back but it will be taxable. Only businesses which make an overall profit once grant income is included will be subject to tax. "

Who is the Ratepayer at my flying club? And one person is paid 10k ?

Lost for words

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Posted by Denis Watkins on 12/08/2020 22:12:41:

Posted by Tim Flyer on 12/08/2020 21:11:56:

I found this **LINK**

it does say the grant will be taxable which worries me slightly... I guess even so our club income isn’t enough to be taxable at only around 6k per year

Quote, Gov.I'M

" The grant will be paid to the person registered as the ratepayer for the property as of 11 March 2020.

You do not have to pay the grant back but it will be taxable. Only businesses which make an overall profit once grant income is included will be subject to tax. "

Who is the Ratepayer at my flying club? And one person is paid 10k ?

Lost for words

Whoever bills get sent to, one person is paid because he/she represent the club. Good luck to all who apply.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Denis Watkins on 12/08/2020 22:12:41:

Who is the Ratepayer at my flying club? And one person is paid 10k ?

I'd expect it to be the treasurer? It is at mine although our rates demands were addressed to me as Secretary at the time until we changed it to him. One or the other...

[Denis Watkins]

Am not good at explaining things, but will try.

Councils were given the authority to give 10k grants to small businesses who had to be closed during lockdown.

Small businesses who could not be furloughed, so had no income to pay Rents and rates etc.

Small market traders who pay £100 - £200 per week rent, hairdressers etc, who could not be furloughed

These businesses were to get support as they would certainly disappear otherwise.

Hand on heart, should 10 or 15 lads down a field be claiming public funds?

As an individual on a pension would you be comfortable having a paper trail leading 10k to your bank account?

The grant does not go to a business, it goes to the landlord of the business? There needs to be a building?

As I said, this is hard to explain, but how could we possibly qualify?

[Ernie]

Hi All,

We have a very similar grant or 'bourse' here in france. The French government are of course worried about the effects of the virus on our very top sports. There are very many model flying clubs around here, usually with great wee sites, so it has quickly become a pretty big political issue.

The system for obtaining the grant is unusually simple, You need to turn up at the 'mairie' or town hall with a model plane. Plastic ones are not acceptable, because an imposter could easily just buy one in the local branch of lidl. There is the usual form filling, and a short interview with the mayor, who subjects the model to a close and rigorous examination so as to ensure that it really is hand made. When these formalities are complete (about an hour) a cheque for €1000 is issued.

My own club, LES CIGOGNES d' AQUITAINE only really has 3 members, and the other two are storks, that pop in to see me from time to time for some flying tips.

As I write, I'm really at a loss of how to spend the grant, perhaps someone has a wonderful french style idea

ernie

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Gary Manuel]

The way I see it is that most clubs will see a dramatic fall-off in the number of members due to the virus this year and perhaps in future years too. Our numbers certainly appear to be down this year. The grass still needs cutting. The rent still needs paying. A little help from the council won't go amiss. £10,000 does appear to be a large amount of money, but I assume that the £10,000 minimum grant is to save on bureaucracy of smaller claims.

The government have recently introduced model registration and other flying restrictions which have had a negative affect on membership and a cost to modellers. Electronic model tracking is a future likelihood. Maybe the grant will allow annual membership fees to be held lower than they would otherwise be and perhaps help keep clubs viable.

Leisure pastimes are important in these troubles times. The Government recognise this fact and are therefore trying to help to keep them going. I don't think anyone should feel guilty in claiming a council grant if it helps to keep a local leisure facility operating.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I think it is ludicrous, been made set amount to make it easy to administer, I drive around and there's to let signs aplenty on former businesses, I understand what Denis is saying entirely.

But I'm past caring, money being thrown at allsorts of dubious people, squandered left right n center, the thing ain't over yet either £10,000 ? It's a pittance compared to the money spent on I.T for the drone reg scheme and many other things.

Problems for clubs are far from over, reduced membership = fees going up and bills harder to pay, you get chance to protect your club and your members, get in their is my opinion.

Morality ? The way things are going we'll all lose our sites, via the changing planning for building regs.