- Chancellor announces one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.
- £594 million discretionary fund also made available to support other impacted businesses
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement last night local business in retail, hospitality and leisure ordered to close until at least the February half-term will be eligible for extra financial support. A one-off top up grant worth up to £9000 per property is being made available, in addition to further discretionary funding administered by Burnley Council.
The one off grant will be provided on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest restrictions, and is expected to benefit over 600,000 business properties, worth £4 billion in total across all nations of the UK.
A further £594 million is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants, that might be affected by the restrictions. Businesses should apply to their Local Authorities.
Commenting local MP Antony Higginbotham who said that this support was “needed” added that:
Throughout this pandemic our local businesses have proved to be resilient in the face of enormous challenges, but this latest set of measures will be very tough. That's why it's so important we get further support to them as soon as possible.
Coming on top of the other grants that are available, and schemes like furlough and rate relief, it should ensure that our businesses get through this period and can bounce back quickly once the vaccine roll-out has progressed.
These grants will be administered locally as before, and any business struggling to access them should contact me or the Council for support.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:
The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge - and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.
Throughout the pandemic we’ve taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we’re announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring.
This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.
The new one-off grants come in addition to billions of existing business support, including grants worth up to £3,000 for closed businesses, and up to £2,100 per month for impacted businesses once they reopen.
The government has also provided 100% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, £1.1 billion existing discretionary funding for Local Authorities, the furlough scheme now extended to April and 100% government backed loans, extended until March.