Government announces £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants for businesses

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will benefit from a one-off cash sum worth up to £9,000 per property, with the amount provided depending on the rateable value of their business property. This funding, worth £4 billion in total, is expected to benefit more than 600,000 properties across the whole of the UK.

Closed businesses in these sectors in England will be granted:

• £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below
• £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
• £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value more than £51,000

As business support is a devolved policy and therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations, they will receive additional funding as a result of these announcements:

• The Scottish Government will receive £375 million
• The Welsh Government will receive £227 million
• The Northern Ireland Executive will receive £127 million

Each devolved administration will set out how it intends to allocate this funding, which will contribute to the funding already guaranteed by the UK Government to the devolved administrations to help them with their coronavirus responses in the months ahead. 

An additional £594 million is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses that are not eligible for the grants that might be affected by the restrictions. 

Businesses will need to apply to their Local Authorities for this funding.

The new one-off grants come on top of existing business support, including grants worth up to £3,000 for closed businesses, and up to £2,100 per month for affected businesses when they reopen.

The Government has also provided 100% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, £1.1 billion existing discretionary funding for Local Authorities, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as the furlough scheme) now extended to April and 100% Government- backed loans, extended until March.

Small businesses in the devolved administrations should also be able to access other UK-wide measures in the Government’s business support package, including business lending schemes (whose repayment terms were made easier as part of the Winter Economy Plan), and the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

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Last updated: 7th January 2021