Chancellor announces £1 billion fund support for businesses affected by Covid

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak recently announced £1 billion in support for businesses in the UK mostly impacted by Omicron. According to UK Hospitality, they reported that businesses have already lost what could be around 40-60% of their December trade. This means that £683 million in targeted grants will be made available for hospitality and leisure businesses in England

The government will be providing extra support through one-off grants of up to £6000 for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England, where over 200,000 businesses will be eligible to apply.

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak said:

We recognise that the spread of the Omicron variant means businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors are facing huge uncertainty, at a crucial time.

So we’re stepping in with £1 billion of support, including a new grant scheme, the reintroduction of the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme and further funding released through the Culture Recovery Fund.

£102 million will be made available to the local authorities for the Additional Restrictions Grant and a further £30 million for the Cultural Recovery Fund, in an effort to allow more cultural organisations to apply for support.

According to the government, the new funding will consist of:

• £683 million for targeted grants for hospitality and leisure businesses in England
• £102 million top-up for the Additional Restrictions Grant
• £30 million for Culture Recovery Fund
• £154 million of Barnett funding covering all three above
• Funding for the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate scheme will be additional to these amounts

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Further information can be found in the published factsheets.