U.K. announces U.S. $ 1.3 billion support to hospitality and leisure sector which has been hit hard by Omicron
The Finance Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) has announced an additional support of 1 billion pounds (U.S. $ 1.3 billion) to support businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector, which have been hit hard by spread of Omicron variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Sunak said he is hopeful that the additional support will help business revive. As of now, the hospitality businesses in England are not subject to any new legal restrictions despite a 60% surge in COVID-19 cases during the past week which has taken the number of infections to approximately 90,000 a day.
The bars and restaurants in Scotland have been restricted to table service only from December 27, 2021, and public New Year’s Eve celebrations have been cancelled. Many pubs and restaurants have seen cancellations and reduced footfall due to the spread of Omicron variant. There has been an estimated loss of 40-60% of business in December, which is the peak season for them.
The Prime Minister of U.K. – Boris Johnson has also said that there is not enough evidence to justify new COVID-19 restrictions in England before Christmas.
Speaking on the occasion, Johnson said, “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.”
He further said, “That’s why we’re taking immediate action to help with an extra £1 billion in grants to these industries and reintroducing our Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme.”
Taking it to twitter, Sunak tweeted,
We’re providing new support worth £1bn including:
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 21, 2021
➡️New grants for hospitality & leisure sectors – up to £6,000 per business premises.
➡️Adding £30m to the Culture Recovery Fund to support culture.
➡️Reintroducing our Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme.https://t.co/3SEFHcrCSv pic.twitter.com/eUSSmrwBoR
Under the additional support, hospitality and leisure businesses in England will be eligible for grants of up to 6,000 pounds for each of their premises, accounting for almost 700 million pounds (U.S. $ 927 million) of the new package. The grant is equivalent to those provided to hospitality businesses when they were fully closed this year. However, there will be no extra Government help for workers who lose their jobs or have their hours cut.
The funding also includes 30 million pounds (U.S. $ 39 million) to support cultural organisations and 100 million pounds (U.S. $ 132 million) would go to English local authorities for business support measures and 150 million pounds (U.S. $ 198 million) to Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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.
In addition, Sunak said that the Finance Ministry would cover the cost of statutory sick pay for COVID-19 related absences, for up to two weeks per employee, for small- and medium-sized companies across the U.K.
For the records, U.K. borrowed more than 300 billion pounds (U.S. $ 397 million) in the last financial year to revive the economy from the economic impacts of COVID-19 led lockdowns.
