<p>Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have a significant role to play in high street regeneration and will be even more important in the recovery from the current crisis.</p><p>That is why Government has introduced up to £6.1 million in funding. The funding is intended to cover the equivalent of three months’ of core operational costs and is based on a fair percentage of a BID's levy income from each BID’s operating year ending in 2019/20.</p><p>My department undertook a light-touch information gathering exercise to collect information needed from local authorities to prepare and process the section 31 grants. Following this information gathering exercise, the first batch of grant payments to 70 local authorities were paid out early in the week commencing 2 June. Other batches will follow shortly.</p><p>All local authorities who have submitted information to us by the initial deadline of 15 May should receive funding this month. We will provide funding to others as soon as possible.</p><p>We have encouraged local authorities to be pragmatic in the collection of BID levies while acknowledging that they have a statutory obligation to issue the BID levy invoices. The BIDs support funding will enable authorities to take a more flexible approach to the collection of BID levies at this difficult time for many businesses.</p><p>This funding is in addition to passing legislation which enables BIDs to extend the maximum duration of their BID arrangements until 31 March 2021. This allows businesses to focus on recovery from economic shock before deciding whether to participate in BID arrangements for the following 5-year period, and allows BIDs to coordinate their places’ recovery</p><p>We will continue to work closely with the sector to look at how further we can support BIDs, and the businesses that contribute to them, during this time.</p>