Coronavirus: ‘Immediate’ five-figure grants for 31,000 beleaguered businesses still not in place after over a week

The grants are worth £10,000 or £25,000 depending on the size of the business, and industry spokesman Colin Neill today described them as being “critical” to firms which are fighting for survival.

The grants were announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak last Tuesday, March 17, amid grave concerns for the future of the pub, hotel and restaurant trade in the face of Covid-19.

He told the Commons the grants were to “provide ​immediate cash flow relief”.

He further went on to stress their urgency, saying they will offer “immediate cash support” and give “reassurance that help is on its way to enable it to protect jobs, with more to come”.

The specific details of the scheme are as follows:

The Westminster government has said businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000, are to be offered a cash grant of up to £25,000 (this will apply to about 4,000 businesses).

Businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of £15,000 and under are to offered a grant of £10,000 (around 27,000 businesses).

In England, the government has said that “you do not need to do anything – your local authority will write to you if you are eligible”.

However since last Tuesday webpages run by the Northern Irish devolved government contained only very sketchy details about the schemes, running to just a few paragraphs.

After the News Letter got in touch with the Department for the Economy on Tuesday this week, its webpages were updated with more information about the nature of the schemes.

However, there was still no indication that they are actually available to firms, at time of writing.

The department simply stated: “The schemes will be fully operational as soon as possible.”

Mr Neill, CEO of Hospitality Ulster, who last week had said the industry was enduring a “tsunami” of job losses, and likened the crisis to a world war.

He said of the grant schemes today: “We’re obviously pushing government, and government is pushing themselves to get them out.

“The sooner the better. But this is all new and we’re trying to work together.

“Obviously this is difficult [for businesses]. It’s critical they get it to them. It’s about government realising the critical urgency because of cash flow issues.”

As well as making the grants available to businesses, Colin Neill also contrasted the three months ‘rates holiday’, announced for all businesses by Sinn Fein Finance Minister Conor Murphy last week, with what is available in England.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak had said “all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England” would pay no rates for an entire year – not just three months.

Mr Neill also said that he expects it will be the end of April before Northern Irish businesses are able to avail of the government’s pledge to pay 80% of workers’ wages.

The Department for the Economy said “this crisis is without parallel”.

It added: “Developing two schemes for tens of thousands of businesses is complex and challenging and, in normal circumstances, would take months to put in place. Therefore, we ask for patience. The schemes will be fully operational as soon as possible.”