All Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism: Pathways to Recovery

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism is today launching ‘Pathways to Recovery,’ our urgent inquiry into the measures that businesses in these two vital sectors of the UK’s economy will need in order to successfully reopen, recover and thrive in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. The key focus of this inquiry will be assessing what is needed to get businesses in these sectors back on their feet at the appropriate time, providing forward-looking recommendations to guide Government and businesses as they move to thinking about recovery. The consultation questions will look broadly at what support measures businesses would like to see from Government, while also looking at […]

Economic Resilience Fund

Further details about support from the Welsh Government’s new £500m Economic Resilience Fund has been published today. To be eligible for this phase of support, businesses, charities and social enterprises, must meet criteria including: Micro businesses, including start-ups, employing up to nine employees could be eligible for up to £10k support. This includes sole traders employing staff. Businesses in this bracket could qualify for support from the fund if they: – Have experienced in excess of a 40% reduction in turnover since 1 March 2020;– Can demonstrate that efforts have been made to sustain business activity;– Are not pursuing other forms of Welsh Government non-repayable grant funding support;– Are not […]

Useful Contacts

Where can businesses get help and advice? Business Waleshttps://businesswales.gov.wales/ 03000 603000The Development Bank of Wales https://developmentbank.wales/ 0800 587 4140The Welsh Revenue Authority https://gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority or 03000 254 000 for queries related to Welsh taxesHMRC Coronavirus Helpline 0800 015 9559

Job Retention Scheme – HMRC Advice page

This HMRC advice page helps you find out if you’re eligible and how much you can claim to cover wages for employees on temporary leave (‘furlough’) due to Coronavirus (COVID-19).  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme Furlough Letter Template ACAS have produced a free-to-download template for employers to use to confirm that there is an agreement to temporarily furlough a worker or employee. https://www.acas.org.uk/furlough-letter-template

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) provides financial support to smaller businesses (SMEs) across the UK that are losing revenue, and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. CBILS has been significantly expanded along with changes to the scheme’s features and eligibility criteria. The changes mean even more smaller businesses across the UK impacted by the coronavirus crisis can access the funding they need. Importantly, access to the scheme has been opened up to those smaller businesses who would have previously met the requirements for a commercial facility but would not have been eligible for CBILS.  Insufficient security is no longer a condition to access […]

Support from OTAs

During this time of uncertainty amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been working closely with the industry and our partners. As part of this, we’ve been working with Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) to support postponement, rather than cancellation of bookings, Booking.com Booking.com has announced the following temporary changes to help businesses manage date modifications from visitors: There is now the option for businesses to process date modification for guests on upcoming stays, without a requirement to contact the Booking.com customer support team. When a date change has been made, on request of your guests, they’ll then receive a confirmation email detailing these changes. Policy details for all modified reservations will remain the same. […]

Food Innovation Wales Helpline

In this time of increased stress on the food supply chain, Food Innovation Wales has opened a helpline in each of its geographical areas. For food safety, technical or supply chain continuity (e.g. raw material suppliers), please contact the numbers below: North WalesFood Technology Centre, Coleg Menai: Paul Roberts / 07810 647432 / robert5p@gllm.ac.ukAnne-Marie Flinn / 07519 363187 / a.flinn@gllm.ac.u Mid WalesFood Centre Wales, Horeb: Arwyn Davies / 07970 304701 / arwyn.davies@ceredigion.gov.ukAngela Sawyer / angela.sawyer@ceredigion.ac.uk https://businesswales.gov.wales/foodanddrink/sites/foodanddrink/files/documents/Food%20Innovation%20Wales%20helpline%20-%20eng.pdf

Business Rate Relief and Business Grants

The Business Grant has two different components. Grant 1 : For retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Wales, a grant of £25,000 will be offered for businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000. Grant 2 : For all other sectors the Welsh Government package also provides a £10,000 grant to all businesses eligible for Small Business Rates Relief with a rateable value of £12,000 or less. Further details are now available on each of the Local Authorities websites: https://www.anglesey.gov.uk/en/Business/Business-Finance-and-Grants/Welsh-Government-Business-Grants-COVID-19.aspx https://www.conwy.gov.uk/covid19grants https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/business/business-rates/business-rates-support-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.aspx https://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Business/Business-Rates/Business-Rates-Covid-19-Advice.aspx https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Businesses/Help,-support-and-training/Covid-19-Business-Support.aspx https://beta.wrexham.gov.uk/service/covid-19-support-businesses https://businesswales.gov.wales/sites/business-wales/files/Non-Domestic%20Rates%20-%20Retail%2C%20Leisure%20and%20Hospitality%20Rates%20Relief%20-%20Guidance%20-%20FINAL%20%28E%29_0.pdf If you do not qualify for either of the two funding packages outlined above then there is help on […]