The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has been announced on 21 December that £1 billion addition support will be available for the UK businesses which is hammering the country’s hospitality sector and leisure sectors who have been impacted by the Omicron variant.
One-off grants for hospitality & leisure sectors in England
The UK Government is providing one-off grant up to £ 6,000 per premises for the businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England.
Around 200,000 businesses will be eligible for business grants which will be administered by local authorities and will be available in the coming weeks.
Additionally, more than £ 100 million discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses.
Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme
The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will help small and medium sized employers by returning them for the cost of Statutory Pay for Covid related absences, for up to 2 weeks per employee. Companies will be eligible this scheme from 21 December 2021 and able to make claims from mid- January.
Existing Package of Business Support
• business rates relief meaning that the majority of businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors will see a 75% reduction in their business rates bill across the entire financial year and a new 50% capped business rates relief next financial year;
• a 12.5% reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs, until the end of March;
• the £1.5 billion Covid Additional Relief Fund for businesses that have not previously had business rates support;
• businesses will be protected from eviction if they are behind on rent on their premises, thanks to the moratorium in place until March 2022;
• access to finance for SMEs through the Recovery Loan Scheme to June; and
• Bounce Back Loan repayment flexibility, with borrowers having the option to take a 6 month repayment holiday, three 6 month interest only periods or extend their loan to 10 years, which almost halves the monthly payment.