The boss of one of the UK’s biggest Chambers of Commerce has welcomed the announcement of £1 billion of support for hospitality and leisure businesses.
The sector has been crippled by rising concerns about the new variant of Covid 19 in the run up to what should have been the busiest time of the year.
The support includes grants of up to £6,000 for businesses in the affected sectors in England, which is expected to be administered by councils in the coming weeks.
The Government also intends to use taxpayers’ cash to cover the cost of statutory sick pay for Covid-related absences for firms with fewer than 250 employees.
Cultural organisations in England could also expect to access another £30 million in funding during the winter via the culture recovery fund.
Responding to the Chancellor’s announcement, East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire) chief executive Scott Knowles said: “These measures will provide some welcome respite to many of those businesses that have been hit hardest by the latest Covid-19 measures.
“The Chancellor and his team has engaged with the British Chambers of Commerce in talks over the past week, considered the experiences of business communities including in the East Midlands, and the proposals we put to them.
“We are pleased the Chancellor heard our call for additional grant funding for hospitality and leisure businesses, which will provide some much-needed support in the face of this increasingly difficult trading period.
“The festive season is vital to the survival and prosperity of hospitality and leisure businesses in particular. Having missed out on the opportunity to maximise income last year, a second cancelled Christmas may have been devastating without the necessary financial backing.
“Clarity and speed will be needed to ensure these grants are paid out swiftly to help these hard-pressed firms weather the next few weeks.
“While these measures are a positive starting point, if restrictions persist or are tightened further, then we would need to see a wider support package, equal to the scale of any new measures, put in place.”
