London, Dec 21 (PTI) Recognising that the rise of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus means some businesses are likely to struggle over the coming weeks, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday announced an additional GBP 1-billion package to fund one-off grants of up to GBP 6,000 per premises for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England.
Many pubs and restaurants have seen cancellations and reduced footfall as people have responded to the rise in cases ahead of Christmas, with Hospitality UK reporting that many businesses have lost 40-60 per cent of their December trade, often their most profitable month.
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.
“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,” Sunak said.
“So we’re stepping in with GBP 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. Ultimately the best thing we can do to support businesses is to get the virus under control, so I urge everyone to Get Boosted Now,” he said.
Given the uncertain situation faced by businesses, the UK government said it has chosen to provide generous grants, which are equivalent to the monthly cash grants provided to hospitality businesses when they were fully closed earlier this year, despite businesses still able to trade.
“With the surge in Omicron cases, people are rightly exercising more caution as they go about their lives, which is impacting our hospitality, leisure and cultural sectors at what is typically the busiest time of the year,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
“That’s why we’re taking immediate action to help with an extra GBP 1 billion in grants to these industries and reintroducing our Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS),” he said.
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 Tuesday and they will be able to make claims retrospectively from mid-January 2022.
To support other businesses impacted by Omicron – such as those who supply the hospitality and leisure sectors – the government is also giving a more than GBP 100 million boost to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund for local authorities in England.
Local authorities will have discretion to allocate this funding to businesses most in need. The ARG top up will be prioritised for those local authorities that have distributed the most of their existing allocation. For the cultural industry, GBP 30 million of further funding is to be made available for theatres, museums, orchestras etc facing cancellations.
The UK Treasury claimed the effectiveness of government policies to support the economy through the pandemic and the success of businesses in learning to adapt means the economy is in a different place now than it was at the start of the crisis.
Fewer businesses have become insolvent, with insolvencies running 25 per cent lower than pre-pandemic in hospitality, and vacancies are 50 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. PTI AK SCY SCY
