Tag Archive for Coronavirus

£40m funding for hospitality firms in Scotland – what we know so far

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The Scottish Government has confirmed that there will be a £40m funding package for hospitality businesses affected but the latest restrictions.
“We have decided to put further restrictions on hospitality, but to offer significantly more financial help,” said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in her announcement yesterday (7th October).
Details of the package haven’t been laid out yet, but we’ll update this article when we know.
What are the new COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland?
Pubs and restaurants in the central belt will be forced to close from 18:00 from Friday for 16 days (from 10th-25th October). They will only be able to offer takeaways.
This applies to the Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley health board areas.
As for the rest of the country, hospitality businesses will only be allowed to operate between 6am and 6pm and no alcohol is allowed to be served inside. Evening meals can be served.
Licensed premises can still serve alcohol outdoors until the 22:00 curfew that was announced last month.
The rule of six still applies indoors and outdoors for hospitality venues.
Alcohol can still be served at weddings and funerals, but attendance is limited to 20 people. They must take

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How the 100% Local Furlough Scheme grant will work for your small business

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to announce a further Local Furlough Scheme for businesses caught out by hard local lockdowns.
The government will cover 100 per cent of staff wages for small businesses ordered to close in areas in hardest-hit regions.
Larger firms blindsided by the highest lockdown level will have between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of staff wages covered.
Manchester, Liverpool and other areas of the North are expected to go into harder lockdown early next week, once the government launches its new traffic-light system for dealing with coronavirus outbreaks.
>See also: Rishi Sunak plans grants for small businesses hit by hard lockdown
London is expected to follow shortly, following a warning from Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Meanwhile help for hospitality businesses forced to close in Scotland will get their own £40m support package.
The Local Furlough Scheme is far more generous than the Jobs Support Scheme, announced last month, as the successor to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which ends on October 31.
>See also: Local lockdowns only make the problem of late payment worse
Every business in the UK is eligible for the Jobs Support Scheme from November, which covers one third of the wages for

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Rishi Sunak plans grants for small businesses hit by hard lockdown

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for new Treasury support for small businesses who find themselves closed because of hard lockdown.
Pubs and restaurants would be forced to close, as well as possibly non-essential retailers, at the top level of a “three-tier” lockdown strategy, which could be announced as soon as tomorrow.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a simplified three-tier system of local, regional and even a national lockdown. The system has yet to be finalised, with sources telling the Times that it was “stuck in No 10”, despite hurdling coronavirus infection cases in the North and scientists urging a national “circuit-breaker”.
>See also: HSBC will not accept any more Bounce Back Loan applications
According to the draft traffic-light-style plan, obtained by the Guardian, the top-tier lockdown would include closure of hospitality and leisure businesses.
Mr Sunak has already provided grants of £1,500 to businesses forced to close under local lockdowns and said this week the government was prepared to move with “pace and scale” to deal with new problems as they arose during the crisis.
Lockdown grants
In September, the government announced that small businesses affected by a local lockdown could claim for a £1,000

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£40m funding for hospitality firms in Scotland – what we know so far

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The Scottish Government has confirmed that there will be a £40m funding package for hospitality businesses affected but the latest restrictions.
“We have decided to put further restrictions on hospitality, but to offer significantly more financial help,” said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in her announcement yesterday (7th October).
Details of the package haven’t been laid out yet, but we’ll update this article when we know.
What are the new COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland?
Pubs and restaurants in the central belt will be forced to close from 18:00 from Friday for 16 days (from 10th-26th October). They will only be able to offer takeaways.
This applies to the Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley health board areas.
As for the rest of the country, hospitality businesses will only be allowed to operate between 6am and 6pm and no alcohol is allowed to be served inside. Evening meals can be served.
Licensed premises can still serve alcohol outdoors until the 22:00 curfew that was announced last month.
The rule of six still applies indoors and outdoors for hospitality venues.
Alcohol can still be served at weddings and funerals, but attendance is limited to 20 people. They must take

Read more...