Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement of a new nationwide lockdown to run possibly into the end of February has prompted new support for certain businesses.
The retail, hospitality and leisure sector has been the worst affected of measures introduced in lockdown, with last year the Chancellor having to literally provide discounts to customers under the eat out to help out scheme.
Grants of up to £9,000 per property have been announced for businesses in the sector. 600,000 properties are expected to take up the grant, costing the Treasury around £4 billion.
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak says the £9,000 to help provide an income lifeline for each business property for the next 6 weeks should help keep the businesses afloat and help retain jobs.
The grants provided to the closed businesses will be tiered as follows:
- Rateable value below £15,000 - £4,000.
- Rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 - £6,000.
- Rateable value above £51,000 - £9,000.