22 December 2021

Rishi Sunak has announced additional support for the hospitality and leisure sector.

  • Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises. The grants available are based on rateable value, will be administered by the Local Authorities and will be available in the coming weeks.

The levels of grants are:

Rateable value of > £51,000                                            £6,000 grant

Rateable value of between £15,000 - £51,000         £4,000 grant

Rateable value less than £15,000                                   £2,666 grant

  • A further £100 million is being made available for discretionary grant funding to support other businesses.
  • The Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rebate scheme is also being reintroduced, which will reimburse employers for the cost of SSP for covid-related absences. This applies to businesses with fewer than 250 employees as at 30 November 2021 and covers up to 2 weeks per employee. This 2 week limit has been reset, so an employer will be able to claim up to two weeks per employee regardless of whether they have claimed for them previously.  The deadline of 31 December 2021 still stands for the SSP Rebate Scheme that closed on 30 September 2021, however, employers can now claim for covid related sickness occurring from 21 December 2021 and will be able to make the claims retrospectively from mid-January.  This is a temporary scheme and the government will keep the duration of the scheme under review.
  • Finally, a further £30 million funding will be available through the Culture Recovery Fund, to support theatres, orchestras and museums through to March 2022.

Remember, there are still other schemes in place to assist those affected by Covid.  These include:

  • Extending bounce back loans to be repayable over 10 years and allowing three 6 month interest-only periods
  • The 12.5% reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism is in place until the end of March
  • Business rates relief means that the majority of businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors will see a 75% reduction in their business rates bill across the financial year
  • A new 50% capped business rates relief for the next financial year

Finally, if you are struggling with your tax/VAT/PAYE payments then you can contact HMRC’s Time To Pay line to arrange to pay in instalments.

If you have any questions, please speak to your usual Dodd & Co contact.