Plymouth hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses that have been impacted by Covid-19 will now be able to apply for financial support through Plymouth City Council.
The Government announced the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure grant on 21 December to support businesses in the sector in recognition of the impact that the Omicron variant has had over the Christmas and New Year period.
The primary purpose of this grant scheme is to support businesses that offer in-person services, where the main service and activity takes place in fixed rate-paying premises in the hospitality, leisure or accommodation sector.
See the Government eligibility criteria on the GOV.UK website.
Eligible businesses can claim the following grants, based on their rateable value:
- Properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under on 30 December 2021 will receive a one-off grant of £2,667
- Properties with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 on 30 December 2021 will receive a one-off grant of £4,000
- Properties with a rateable value of exactly £51,000 or over on 30 December 2021 will receive a one-off grant of £6,000
Businesses can apply through the Plymouth City Council website from 9am on Wednesday 12 January.
Certain information will be required at the time of application to protect against fraudulent claims, including business rates account numbers, unique identifier information (Company Reference Number, VAT registration, Unique Tax Reference etc). All businesses will also need to supply their bank details as well as an image of their business bank statement or cheque book if this is their first COVID-19 grant from the Council or if their bank account details have changed from those previously in use.
The Council is aiming to make grant payments to eligible businesses within ten days of application, provided all of the pre-payment checks are met.
Council leader Nick Kelly said: “Our team has worked as quickly as possible to get this latest business grant scheme up-and-running so we can get Plymouth hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses the financial support that they need.
“We’re now working on plans for the discretionary grant scheme as we want to make sure we understand where the support is needed most and how we can make sure the funding available has the best possible impact.”
Applications for this grant scheme will close on 18 March 2022 and eligible businesses are encouraged to apply as early as possible.
Details of the second, discretionary grant scheme, known as the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) will be shared shortly.
More information about the business grants including FAQs is available on our Business Grants page.
For the purpose of this grant scheme businesses will be defined in the following way:
Hospitality
- Businesses whose main function is to provide a venue for the consumption and sale of food and drink
- Businesses offering in-person food and drink services to the general public
- Businesses providing food and/or drink to be consumed on the premises, including outdoors
This excludes food kiosks and businesses whose main service (generating 50% or more of income) is a take away. (This exclusion does not apply to businesses who have adapted to offer takeaways during periods of restrictions).
Leisure
- Businesses that provide opportunities, experiences and facilities, in particular for culture, recreation, entertainment, celebratory events and days and nights out
- Businesses that may provide in-person intangible experiences in addition to goods
- Businesses that may rely on seasonal labour
- Businesses that may assume particular public safety responsibilities
- Businesses that may operate with irregular hours through day, night and weekends
This excludes all retail businesses, coach tour operators and tour operators.
Accommodation
- Businesses whose main lodging provision is used for holiday, travel or other purposes
- Businesses that provide accommodation for ‘away from home’ stays for work or leisure purposes
- Businesses that provide accommodation for short-term leisure and holiday purposes
This excludes private dwellings, education accommodation, residential homes, care homes, residential family centres and beach huts.