The government have announced additional economic support to help businesses most affected by the Omicron variant of coronavirus:
Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises, and more than £100 million discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses
The government will also cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for coronavirus-related absences for small and medium-sized employers across the UK.
£30 million further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter.
Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme
If you are an employer with fewer than 250 employees, and you’ve paid Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to your employees for absences linked to coronavirus-related sickness or self-isolation, you could be eligible for support.
You will receive repayments at the relevant standard rate of SSP that you paid to your current or former employees for any eligible periods of sickness starting on or after 21 December 2021.
You will be able to reclaim the costs for up to two weeks of SSP for an employee who takes time off because of coronavirus, regardless of whether you claimed for that employee under the previous scheme. These claims can be made retrospectively from mid-January.
Full guidance, including eligibility and how to make a claim, will be available in due course.
Time to Pay arrangements
If you are facing difficulty in making a tax payment, HMRC stands ready to support any business impacted by the coronavirus pandemic through their Time to Pay arrangements, where you can pay the tax you owe in affordable instalments.
They will consider offering businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in particular the option of a short delay, and payment in instalments, on a case-by-case basis, as part of this.
If you would like to discuss how BW Business Accountants and Advisers might be able to support you in accessing additional government support, please get in touch.