10th November 2020
Dear Member
COVID-19 UPDATE
Scotland
- As expected the First Minister today did not relax any of the restrictions currently in place. In fact a series of local councils were added to level 3 meaning further restrictions on pubs and a requirement for arcades to close. The new level 3 areas are: Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross. The idea of a shorter national level 4 lockdown was being considered.
- We are continuing to push for AGCs to be included as non-essential retail and open in Level 3 like bookmakers who continue to operate with their machines on in these areas.
- I have no further news on the expert group looking at music in pubs.
- The Strategic Framework Business Fund was launched today and is available for members who have been either ordered to close or had their businesses severely impacted by the Covid-19 restrictions. The list of premises eligible is contained in the legislation and the guidance and is based upon your rateable value below and above an RV of £51k. There is a cap on the total grant per business. It is paid every four weeks and should be claimed via your local authority. https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-strategic-framework-business-fund/pages/overview/
- Whilst suppliers are not listed in the closures and restrictions supplier members are advised to apply on the basis that you are in the hospitality sector supplying pubs and clubs. Please let me know if this approach has any success.
Wales
- The Welsh Government yesterday confirmed that the grants available to businesses ordered to close by the Government would not be available to AGCs. We are again challenging this but there seems to be a brick wall on this issue that we cannot knock down.
- In a bit of slightly better news following our input to various stakeholders, the WG Guidance on the operation of pubs negotiated with the industry clearly allows machines to be on in pubs when they are open (up to 10.00 p.m. with 20 minutes drinking up time). Paragraph 22 of the UKH Guidance refers https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/page/WalesGuidance.
England
- An updated version (4.7) of the English Guidance is now available on the bacta website to reflect the current lockdown rules in England.
- One of our lobbying asks over the coming four weeks is to ensure that AGCs are not included in Tier 3 closures when we come out of lockdown. All six of the current areas at Tier 3 have said AGCs must close (alongside other adult gaming). The decision is one that rests seemingly within No10 and the Cabinet Office. We are utilising our contacts to make the point that this is unreasonable, and I would again ask bacta members in Division 3 to write to their MPs to make this very basic point. A short draft letter you can use is at the bottom of this email but your own words will have greater impact. You will have to tailor it depending on what Tier you are currently operating in. We will be ramping up the pressure towards the end of the month so it is important that you send these letters soon as they will take time to feed through to Ministers.
- On the lobbying front, the meetings, phone calls and letters continue to flow. We had good meetings with DCMS Minister, Nigel Huddleston and Exchequer Secretary, Kemi Badenoch last week which enabled us to not only raise the unfair treatment of the sector in relation to Tier 3 but to press for further help through extended rates relief and 5% rates of MGD and VAT.
Division 1
- A large number of members attended the Division 1 EGM this morning which agreed after a long and measured debate, to amend bacta’s Code of Conduct and Social Responsibility Charter to require members to prevent persons under the age of 18 playing cash payout Category D reel-based fruit machines. This will need to be formally adopted at the AGM of bacta on 26th November.
Gambling Review
- Speculation is now rising about the start of the Gambling Review. The Gambling Commission has published its Strategic Assessment and we understand that the scoping document for the Review is now with various government departments for their input/information. We have today been invited to a meeting with the Secretary of State, Oliver Dowden, in a couple of weeks so we may have a date in the not too distant future.
Letter to MPs (if you are in Tier 1 or 2)
Dear MPs name
I operate a High Street amusement arcade in XX in your constituency. I have already written to you explaining the impact Covid-19 restrictions are having on my business. My income is down XX% and my year-end will show XX. I have made or will be making X people redundant. The current lockdown has obviously made things even worse (and compounded the impact the 10pm curfew was having on my business).
Nevertheless, I look forward to re-opening after December 2nd, but when we do it is imperative that my type of business is not included in any further restrictions. My fear is that should we have to move to Tier 3 my type of business will be ordered to close as it has in the current Tier 3 areas. There is no justification for this. My premises are safe. We serve no alcohol and our customer numbers are slow and steady and very few in number. Dwell times for customers average 15 minutes and I have spent thousands making my venue Covid-19 secure. There is simply no public health rationale for us to be closed nor to be included in the curfew provisions.
I would be very grateful if you could please intercede with relevant Ministers on my behalf to explain this simple fact.
It surely cannot be the Government’s intention to close businesses with the consequent loss of revenue to the exchequer and the loss of jobs that will follow, when the effect of the closure on the spread of coronavirus is precisely zero.
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Letter to MPs (if you are in Tier 3)
Dear MPs name
I operate a High Street amusement arcade in XX in your constituency. I have already written to you explaining the impact Covid-19 restrictions are having on my business. My income is down XX% and my year-end will show XX. I have made or will be making X people redundant. The current lockdown has obviously made things even worse and compounded the impact the 10 pm curfew was having on my business and the more recent Tier 3 closure restrictions.
Nevertheless, I look forward to re-opening after December 2nd, but when we do it is imperative that my business is not included in any of these restrictions. There is simply no justification for it. My premises are safe. We serve no alcohol and our customer numbers are slow and steady and very few in number. Dwell times for customers average 15 minutes and I have spent thousands making my venue Covid-19 secure. There is simply no public health rationale for us to be closed nor indeed to be included in the curfew provisions.
I would be very grateful if you could please intercede with relevant Ministers on my behalf to explain this simple fact.
It surely cannot be the Government’s intention to close businesses with the consequent loss of revenue to the exchequer and the loss of jobs that will follow, when the effect of the closure on the spread of coronavirus is precisely zero.
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Kind regards,
John
