Council lifeline for hospitality and leisure businesses

At the Staffing Matters and Review Sub-Committee today (Friday 18 December), amendments were agreed to the Additional Support Grant (ARG) Scheme to help as many businesses involved in the hospitality and leisure sectors as possible through the Christmas period and the impact of Tier 3 restrictions.

The agreed changes are:

• Extending the application window to Sunday 10 January to help more businesses
• Amending the policy to provide additional one off payments on top of grant payments, even where other grants have been awarded
• We will be giving a one-off ARG grant to all qualified businesses for Localised Restrictions Grant (open and closed). Payment amount is dependent on the size of the business.

Leader of Basildon Council, Councillor Gavin Callaghan, said:

“There’s no doubt that Tier 3 is crippling for businesses and livelihoods. That is why we have tried to act fast to get financial support packages in place this week to help employers. I believe we are going further than any other council in the UK to support our hospitality and leisure businesses in our borough when they need it most.

“When the announcement was made this week we were going into Tier 3 restrictions, we knew this would devastate our hospitality and leisure businesses at their busiest time of the year. I wanted us to be proactive and move fast to see what changes we could make to our discretionary schemes to help and I’m pleased we have been able to do that.

“The challenge now is to ensure this money gets into the pockets of businesses as quickly as possible and we are ready to work around the clock to process these payments. I urge businesses to get in touch with us as soon as possible”.

For information on the financial support available for businesses during the pandemic, visit www.basildon.gov.uk/coronavirus-business or email [email protected]