As we enter another lockdown, the government have introduced additional support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in the form of a one-off grant of up to £9,000. This will provide an extra £4.6 billion of support to some of the hardest hit industries in the pandemic. There will also be a discretionary fund of £594 million for other businesses that are effected by the latest measures being introduced. This one-off grant is in addition to any local restriction support grants you may be entitled too.
Similar to earlier grant schemes the amounts available will be based on rateable value:
- £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
- £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
- £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000
Specific support was given over the Christmas period for wet-led pubs. This grant is for pubs where less than 50% of takings are from food sales. There are a number of qualifying conditions. However, the portal is not available on some council websites yet but we are hopeful this will go live by the end of the week.
Further payments may be available for eligible businesses under the local restrictions support grants (LRSG) up to the end of December 2020. It has been confirmed that these grants are to continue into January and beyond under the new restrictions. As a reminder the rates are:
- Rateable value of £15,000 or less – £667 every two weeks
- Rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 – £1000 every two weeks
- Rateable value above £51,000 – £1,500 every two weeks
These grants are available while local and national restrictions limit a business’s ability to trade.
Before Christmas, extensions were made to the Bounce Back Loan (BBL) scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CIBLS) and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), commonly referred to as the furlough scheme. The loan schemes are now available until the end of March 2021 and the furlough scheme has been extended until the end April 2021. The rate of the furlough grant remains at 80% for current claims. Deadlines however for furlough claims have been significantly reduced to 14 days after the month end.
You can still make claims for the third Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant. This is for businesses experiencing a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and 29 January 2021. Claims close on 29 January 2021.
Although this is not the start to the new year that many were hoping for, it will hopefully be a short-lived lockdown. With vaccines now being administered to elderly, vulnerable and frontline workers we remain hopeful that we will see a relaxation of these stricter measures in the coming weeks.
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