This morning, the Chancellor has announced £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants to support business and protect jobs as the nation stays at home to control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.

This new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge - and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, the need to tighten restrictions further will have an impact on businesses up and down the country. It is only right that we help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially help protect lives and livelihoods.

This new introduction of one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will help thousands of businesses across the nation, as they are able to apply for grants worth up to £9,000 on a per-property basis. A further £594 million is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for these grants, but may still be affected by these new restrictions. More detail for both of the new measures of support have been included below.

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve taken swift action to protect lives, jobs and livelihoods. This additional support will help businesses see out these latest restrictions and prepare for a time when they can reopen their doors, while ensuring the jobs and livelihoods they provide across the nation are protected.

New one-off grant to support retail, hospitality and leisure businesses forced to closed

Retail, hospitality and leisure business premises forced to close can claim a one-off grant of up to £9,000. The one-off additional grant each business premises will receive depends on their rateable value:

• Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or above: £9,000
• Businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000: £6,000
• Businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or below: £4,000

This one-off grant is in addition to the existing monthly closed grants of up to £3,000 per month that businesses continue to be eligible for. These grants are worth over £1 billion in total per month. The Government expect over 600,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business premises in England to benefit from these grants.

Businesses can receive multiple grants, as they are eligible on a per premises basis.

Local authorities will receive the funding for these one-off grants next week, and we encourage them to make payments to businesses as soon as possible.

Additional discretionary funding for local authorities to support their local businesses

Local Authorities (in England) will also be given an additional £500 million of discretionary funding to support their local businesses.

This builds on (and will be allocated in the same way as) the £1.1 billion discretionary funding (worth £20 per head of population) which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted.

Building on existing support

Throughout this crisis, the Government’s economic priority remains the same: to protect jobs. The Government have already set out our economic package of support for businesses over the Winter, including monthly grants for closed businesses worth up to £3,000 per month, extending the furlough scheme to April and providing further SEISS grants to support the self-employed to April.

Future support

Today’s announcement of support will help businesses get through this difficult period through to the Spring. The Government will take further decisions about our economic response to coronavirus and how best to support the economy, businesses and jobs at the Budget on the 3rd March.