The Chancellor has today announced additional support for the hospitality and leisure sector in England. One-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises for businesses in these sectors are being made available over the coming weeks, of which 200,000 businesses will be eligible. The grants will be administered by local authorities.
As Christmas is the most profitable time of year for this sector, and there are reports of many pubs and restaurants losing 40-60% of their December trade, the support announced is equivalent to the monthly cash grants provided to hospitality businesses when they were fully closed earlier this year.
To support other businesses impacted by Omicron – such as those who supply the hospitality and leisure sectors – the Government is also giving more than £100 million to the additional restrictions discretionary grant fund for local authorities in England.
There will be £1bn of support in total, this includes:
- £683 million for grants for hospitality and leisure businesses in England
- £102 million top-up for the additional restrictions grant for local authorities to support other businesses from any sector on a discretionary basis
- An additional £30m for the cultural recovery fund to support theatres and museums
- A reopening of the statutory sick pay rebate scheme, so that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 250 employees in any sector can recover up to 2 weeks of costs for sick employees
- £154 million of Barnett funding for the devolved administrations
Further information of the Chancellor’s latest announcement can be found here.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For advice tailored to your situation, or support with issues you may be experiencing due to the ongoing uncertainty regarding the Omicron variant, please speak to your usual PM+M representative, or get in touch on enquiries@pmm.co.uk and we’ll direct you to the right person.
