Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make wholesale food suppliers eligible for the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Grant.

This question was answered on 11th May 2020
The Government recognises that this is a very challenging time for businesses in a wide variety of sectors. Small businesses occupying properties for retail, hospitality or leisure purposes are likely to be particularly affected by Covid-19 due to their reliance on customer footfall, and the fact that they are less likely than larger businesses to have sufficient cash reserves to meet their high fixed property-related costs. The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund is intended to help small businesses in this situation.

Wholesale food suppliers may be eligible for a discretionary grant from their Local Authority. On Friday 1 May, the Government announced that it would be making up to £617m of additional funding available to Local Authorities to enable them to make payments of up to £25,000 to businesses which have been excluded from the existing grants schemes because of the way they interact with the business rates system. The additional funds are aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs, and we are particularly asking Local Authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces; regular market traders; small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief; and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates. Local Authorities may choose to make payments to other businesses, including wholesale food suppliers, based on local economic need. However, the priority of all the grants schemes continues to be to help the smallest businesses, and small businesses which are facing significant property-related costs and operate in sectors which have been particularly hard hit by the steep decline in customer footfall.

Small businesses which are not eligible for business grants should still be able to benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:

• An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;
• The Bounce Back Loan scheme, which will ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which are 100% guaranteed by the Government;
• The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able to access commercial credit;
• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support businesses with their wage bill;
• The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, to provide support to the self-employed.