Chancellor to announce £5 billion of new grants to help hardest hit business

Saturday, 27 February 2021 23:24

Thousands of businesses hit hardest by the pandemic are to be helped back onto their feet through a £5bn new grant scheme, the Chancellor will announce at Wednesday’s budget. Rishi Sunak is set to announce that shops, pubs, clubs, hotels restaurants, gyms and hair salons will be among nearly 700,000 companies eligible for new direct cash grants of up to £18,000. The funding – which takes the total spent on direct grants to businesses during...Request free trial

Thousands of businesses hit hardest by the pandemic are to be helped back onto their feet through a £5bn new grant scheme, the Chancellor will announce at Wednesday’s budget.

Rishi Sunak is set to announce that shops, pubs, clubs, hotels restaurants, gyms and hair salons will be among nearly 700,000 companies eligible for new direct cash grants of up to £18,000.

The funding – which takes the total spent on direct grants to businesses during pandemic to £25 billion – will ensure firms can reopen and get going again as restrictions ease and people return to their high streets.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

“Our local businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic – which is why we went big and went early with a multi-billion pound package of support.

“There’s now light at the end of the tunnel and this £5bn of extra cash grants will ensure our high street can open their doors with optimism.”

Under the scheme, non-essential retail businesses will get up to £6,000 per premises to help them reopen and start trading safely.

Hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England – which will open later under the roadmap or will be more impacted by restrictions when they do open - will get up to £18,000 per premises.

Local authorities will be responsible for distributing the grants and receive funding in April so they can make payments to businesses as soon as possible, with the government’s existing business grants schemes ending at the end of March.

Local authorities in England will also get an extra £425 million to distribute grants to businesses not eligible for the Restart Grants, but which are nonetheless experiencing a severe impact on their business due to public health restrictions.

As Business grants are a devolved issue, the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive £794 million of extra funding via the Barnett formula.