Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Liverpool has launched a £9.5m grant fund to specifically help the self-employed in hospitality and leisure excluded from government Covid support.
This includes support for the self-employed, sole traders or the home-based and their supply chains.
The Liverpool self-employed grant fund is the first in England specifically aimed at the “excluded and forgotten” from national support schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Businesses based in Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral are eligible for support from the new £9.5m fund.
Last week, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram wrote to chancellor Rishi Sunak alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham urging him to do something for the 3m self-employed who have found themselves excluded from national support.
It is estimated that there are 3m self-employed excluded from government Covid-19 business support.
Forgotten Limited, the pressure group for small limited company directors affected by the pandemic, said that 70 per cent of its members had not received any government support since the onset of the pandemic in March. Even if they make it to Christmas, 93 per cent doubted their small limited companies would still be trading by Easter.
Mr Rotheram said: “This latest round of