Registered charities are now exempt from the rule which stipulates that half of their income comes from trading in order to be eligible for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme.

The British Business Bank, which is the body overseeing the scheme, has changed the wording of the scheme’s conditions to say:

“Charities are in principle eligible if they satisfy the other eligibility criteria of the scheme. “Note: registered charities are exempt from the requirement that 50% of the applicant’s income must be derived from its trading activity.”

Prior to this change, the requirement for 50% of a charity’s income to come from trading had been identified as a barrier for many organisations applying for the support.