The Prime Minister has announced a new national lock-down for England, 4 January 2021, that is likely to apply until half-term February 2021. Similar restrictions are likely to apply in the other regions of the UK.

The following day the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, stepped in and disclosed a raft of new financial support measures for businesses affected by the new lock-down regulations.

New grants for business required to close

Business required to close in the retail, hospitality and entertainment sectors will be eligible for a new one-off top-up grant based on their business property rateable value. The grants will be:

• £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

Please note, 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

Additional funding for other affected businesses

Businesses outside the retail, hospitality and entertainment sectors may also be eligible for support from their local authority. The UK government is making a total of £594m available to local authorities for this purpose.

What will this mean for you?

In both cases you will need to approach your local authority to secure funding. These additional grants will be a welcome addition to the other support measures previously announced and will help affected businesses cover some of their recurring costs until, hopefully, government is able to relax lock-down.