Bacta welcomes chancellor’s announcement today of support for business

21st December 2021 – PRESS RELEASE

 

Bacta welcomes today’s news that the Chancellor has announced additional support for businesses impacted by the Omicron Variant.

 

Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises. According to the announcement, 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.

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 £100 million boost to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund for local authorities in England. Local Authorities will have the 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. This is on top of the £250 million of previously allocated funding that remains with local authorities.

“We will need to see the guidance to see how exactly this impacts members but it is welcome and timely news,” says bacta CEO John White. “We know that businesses in our sector have been dramatically affected by the uncertainty and reduced footfall as a result of the Omicron variant.It is also certainly worthwhile for members to check their local council websites to see if applications have re-opened as it is worth them applying for this fund.”

Other measures announced include a policy to cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-related absences for small and medium-sized employers across the UK and £30 million further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter.

More information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-billion-in-support-for-businesses-most-impacted-by-omicron-across-the-uk

 

ENDS

 

www.bacta.org.uk

 

Kind regards,
Steph Norbury – Managing Director, Upgrade PR Ltd. 
Contact General inquiries: +44 (0) 7887 928819
Email inquiries: steph@upgradepr.com