Written Statement: Extension of the Restrictions Business Fund

Last week, the First Minister announced that we would make a further £200m available to support businesses and jobs through the pandemic. 

Following today’s announcement on continuing restrictions, it I can now provide more details of that additional support, part of a package of more than £2bn of Welsh Government help for businesses that can protect jobs and support individuals across Wales. 

• This is an extension of the funding package, which we put in place in early December.

• It brings this latest phase of support to £650m through to the end of March.

This latest funding will be used to extend the Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) Restrictions Business Fund non-domestic Rates (NDR) grant and Discretionary based grants for all non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism (NERHLT) sectors. It provides a top up payment to cover the period between the 25 January and end of March 2021 for businesses affected by national alert Level 4 restrictions.

Supply chain businesses will also be able to apply if they have had a reduction in turnover of more than 40%. We have also extended a £5,000 grant through to properties with rateable value of up to £500,000.

Taken alongside the package for December and January, this will provide all eligible businesses with a minimum combined £6,000 - £10,000 grant before taking into account support via the Economic Resilience Fund Sector Specific Fund, and wider support packages such as the Job Retention Scheme.

Businesses Eligible for the Extended Restrictions Business Fund will receive the following top up:

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) and with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will be eligible for an additional £3,000 payment. Supply chain businesses qualifying for  Small Business Rate Relief will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000 will also be eligible for a £5,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions. Supply chain businesses in the same rateable value bracket will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £51,001 and £500,000 will also be eligible for a £5,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions. Supply chain businesses in the same rateable value bracket will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with a rateable value up to £150,000 who registered and received the Economic Resilience Fund Business Restrictions Fund Grant in December/January via their Local Authority will begin receiving payments into their bank account during February. These businesses will not be required to re-register their details.

If a business is eligible for the payments and haven’t received the grant to date they will be able to register for the eligible funding since the 4 December.

This extension will also provide support to retail, leisure and tourism business properties with rateable values of between £150,000 and £500,000per annum. This will enable support to be provided to a cohort of medium sized firms that to date have not received support via the Business Restrictions Fund grants schemes. These businesses will be required to register their details, as well as making a short on-line application to their respective local authority.

Businesses will be able to access the registration and application process to access the funding through the Business Wales and Local Authority websites.

To support businesses who are not registered on the Non Domestic Rates register and with a turnover below £500,000, a further £30m phase of the Local Discretionary Fund has also been approved and will provide a £2,000 grant via a second round application and payment. Businesses will need to submit an application to the fund.

Following this grant extension the total amount of financial support for eligible businesses through the Welsh Government’s Restrictions Business Fund alone for the period 4 December – end of March is as follows:

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) and with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will be eligible for a £6,000 payment. Supply chain businesses qualifying for SBRR will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000 will also be eligible for a £10,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions. Supply chain businesses in the same rateable value bracket will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £51,001 and £150,000 will also be eligible for a £10,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions. Supply chain businesses in the same rateable value bracket will also be eligible for this support if they have greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.

• Non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses with rateable values of between £150,001 and £500,000 who were not able to apply for funding in December will be entitled to a £5,000 payment. These businesses will need to register their details through their local authority website.

This does not include, where eligible, businesses who have accessed the ERF Sector Specific Fund which would see a typical hospitality, leisure and tourism business with 10 employees receive up to an additional £15,000, £25,000 in total for the period.

I will continue to do all that we can to support businesses during these incredibly difficult days in order to protect jobs and support individuals and we will assess and update support as the situation evolves.