UK Government announces £4.6 billion lockdown relief package for retail and hospitality businesses

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors that are forced to close again due to the new national lockdown are to be given one-off grants worth up to £9,000.

As many as 600,000 UK businesses are expected to make use of the grants, which could cost as much as £4.6 billion. A further £594m will also be made available to local councils and devolved nations to support businesses that are affected by the lockdown but are not eligible for the grants.

Announcing the new package of grants, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Twitter:

Today I’m announcing £4.5 billion in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs. https://t.co/dHEpiunX78 pic.twitter.com/SUMrlQKCiE

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) January 5, 2021

The grants will be awarded on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest lockdown restrictions, announced last night by the Prime Minister and expected to last until at least mid-February.

The one-off top-ups will be granted to closed businesses as follows:

• £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
• £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
• £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000
• business support is a devolved policy and therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations, which will receive additional funding as a result of these announcements in the usual manner:
  • the Scottish Government will receive £375 million
  • the Welsh Government will receive £227 million
  • the Northern Ireland Executive will receive £127 million
  • small businesses in the devolved administrations should also be able to benefit from other UK-wide measures in the government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including the various business lending schemes (where the repayment terms were made easier as part of the Winter Economy Plan), and the extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme

For more information, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/46-billion-in-new-lockdown-grants-to-support-businesses-and-protect-jobs