Details have been revealed of the business support available for firms in Wales hit by cancellations and restrictions due to the Omicron crisis.
Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has announced the details of the £120m funding which will be available for non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism business and their supply chains.
It will cover the period from December 13 to February 14 2022.
As a result of the new emergency support packages, the Welsh Government is withdrawing its £35m Business Support Fund, announced in November, in order to re-allocate and process emergency payments as soon as possible. All existing offers will be honoured.
Under the latest package, retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism business who pay Non Domestic Rates will be entitled to a payment of £2,000, £4,000 or £6,000 depending on their rateable value.
It compares to rates of £2,700, £4,000 and £6,000 in England announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier this week, which freed up extra funding for Welsh Government.
The Welsh Government said it has decided to extend this support to non-essential retail - who were not covered in England - so that smaller shops, and Travel Agents will be supported and "our high streets can continue to thrive".
Businesses will need to re-register their details with their local authority in order to receive their payments.
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For firms with multiple sites they are not restricted to one claim per business and will be paid to each site registered on the non-domestic rates register.
Registration will open via local authority websites from the week commencing January 10.
In addition, impacted hospitality and leisure businesses and their supply chains will be able to apply for top up funding from a new Economic Resilience Fund (ERF).
Eligible businesses can apply for grants of between £2,500k - £25,000, with grants dependant on their size and number of employees. The application window for ERF will open in week commencing January 17 with payments starting to reach businesses within days.
The new support package will be available on the Business Wales website by the start of 2022.
Welsh Government said calculations are based on businesses that could be eligible and therefore an "appropriate level" of funding has been made available so should stop any eligible firms from missing out.
Local Authorities will also administer a £10m Discretionary fund for business and sole traders who do not pay rates.
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The fund will provide £500 to sole trader and freelancers and £2,000 to employing businesses in impacted sectors. Further details to follow on business.wales.
An eligibility checker which will help businesses to gauge how much they can expect to receive under the new support package will be available on the Business Wales website by the start of 2022.
Rates linked grants:
- Non Essential Retail Hospitality Leisure and Tourism businesses in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) and with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will be eligible for a £2,000
- Non Essential Retail Hospitality Leisure and Tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000 will be eligible for a £4,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions.
- Non Essential Retail Hospitality Leisure and Tourism businesses with a rateable value of between £51,001 and £500,000 will be eligible for a £6,000 payment if impacted by the restrictions.
- Qualifying supply chain businesses will be eligible for support if they have a greater than 40% reduction in turnover during the restriction period.
Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, said: “We fully understand the continued challenges faced by businesses, however we are facing a very serious situation in Wales.
"A wave of infections caused by the new, fast-moving and very-infectious omicron variant is headed our way, this means taking early action to try and control its spread – and limit the impact on Welsh businesses.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve provided over £2.2bn of support to businesses throughout Wales to help them manage their way through difficult circumstances.
“We will continue to monitor the impact of the spread of Omicron on businesses in Wales, and will consider whether additional emergency funding is needed in the new year.”