Hospitality Industry: Coronavirus

(asked on 24th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to offer additional financial support to the hospitality industry operating in areas with Tier 3 covid-19 restrictions during December 2020.


Answered by
Kemi Badenoch Portrait
Kemi Badenoch
President of the Board of Trade
This question was answered on 2nd December 2020

The Government understands that this is a very challenging time for the UK’s hospitality and leisure sectors, and it recognises that the hospitality and leisure sectors have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

The Government is continuing to collect evidence on the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry and work with businesses and representative groups to ensure that support provided is right for this industry and the economy as a whole.

The Government has acted to deliver targeted support to these sectors through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund, the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, and a reduction in VAT for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions from 20% to 5% until 31 March 2021. In addition, the hospitality sector continues to have access to a range of Government support measures including, but not limited to:

  • The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which has supported 1.4 million jobs across the hospitality sector, and which has been extended until the end of March 2021.
  • A 12-month business rates holiday for all eligible retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in England, saving around 350,000 ratepayers a combined £10bn.
  • Cash grants of up to £3,000 per month to help businesses that are closed with their costs, including paying their supply chains.
  • £1.1 billion of Discretionary Grant funding for local authorities to target support to the businesses that are most important to their local economy.
  • A VAT deferral for up to 12 months.
  • Access to affordable, Government backed finance through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBLS) for and larger firms, along with the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBL) for small and micro enterprises. The deadline for applications to these lending schemes have been extended until 31 January 2021.
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