Government announces extra support for Hospitality & Leisure businesses.

In England:

As Covid continues to have a negative impact on the hospitality industry, today, the Government made three key announcements:

1. Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for a one-off grant of £6,000 maximum per premises, plus more than £100 million discretionary funding made available for local authorities to support other businesses
2. Government will also cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-related absences for small and medium-sized employers across the UK
3. £30 million of further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter

Local Authorities will have discretion to allocate this funding to businesses most in need. Roughly 200,000 eligible businesses for the grants will need to apply through their local council.

As the rising number of Covid-19 cases is resulting in more workers taking time off work, the government is also reintroducing the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS). The SSP payment is currently at £96.35 a week.

The SSPRS will help small and medium-sized employers – those with fewer than 250 employees – by reimbursing them for the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-related absences, for up to 2 weeks per employee. Firms will be eligible for the scheme from today, and they will be able to make claims retrospectively from mid-January.

The new measures are a reinforcement of the existing package of business support announced in the Autumn Budget late October. There have also been other tax and governmental measures announced in the last months which can be read here.

In Scotland:

Funds have been allocated to affected businesses in a very similar way to the allocation of funds in England.

The one-off grants are £4,500 for premises with a rateable value of up to £51,000 or £6,800 for premises with a rateable value of £51,001+.

Local authorities will be making contact between today and the end of January for businesses with enough details in their systems to be contacted.

In Wales:

More information will be provided as soon as more clarity from the government is available.

The total amount of the new economic support packages totals over £1 billion. For more information, please get in touch with your local AIMS Accountant.