To reflect the new national restrictions announced last week, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out £4.6 billion of further Government support to protect jobs, as he has done throughout the pandemic.
There will be a new one-off grant of up to £9,000 to support retail, hospitality and leisure businesses forced to closed and an additional £500 million of discretionary funding provided to English local authorities to support local businesses.
This additional support is on top of the economic package of support for businesses over the Winter, including monthly grants for closed businesses worth up to £3,000 per month, extending the furlough scheme to April and providing further SEISS grants to support the self-employed to April.
The one-off grant of up to £9,000 will be available to retail, hospitality and leisure business premises forced to close. The one-off additional grant each business premises will receive depends on their rateable value.
Businesses can receive multiple grants, as they are eligible on a per premises basis.
Local authorities should receive the funding for these one-off grants this week, and I will be liaising with the Forest of Dean District Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council to make sure they get their money from central government.
As well as the additional grants, English local authorities will be given an additional £500 million of discretionary funding to support their local businesses.
This builds on (and will be allocated in the same way as) the £1.1 billion discretionary funding (worth £20 per head of population) which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted.
While the money will come from the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, it will be up to the Forest of Dean District Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council to decide how they distribute it and who they distribute it to.
This support will help businesses get through this difficult period to the Spring, with the Chancellor taking further decisions about the Government’s economic response to coronavirus and how best to support the economy, businesses and jobs at the Budget on 3 March.