The government has announced it will significantly increase the generosity and reach of its winter support schemes to ensure livelihoods and jobs across the UK continue to be protected in the difficult months to come, supporting jobs and helping to contain the virus.

 Additional funding has been approved to support cash grants of up to £2,100 per month primarily for businesses in the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sector who may be adversely impacted by the restrictions in high-alert level areas. These grants will be available retrospectively for areas who have already been subject to restrictions, and come on top of higher levels of additional business support for Local Authorities moving into Tier 3 which, if scaled up across the country, would be worth more than £1 billion.

• open businesses which are experiencing considerable difficulty will be given extra help to keep staff on as government significantly increases contribution to wage costs under the Job Support Scheme, and business contributions drop to 5%
• business grants are expanded to cover businesses in particularly affected sectors in high-alert level areas, helping them stay afloat and protecting jobs
• grants for the self-employed doubled to 40% of previous earnings
• furlough system paying 80% of employee wages will be extended until March 2021.

All local authorities are waiting to be issued with Guidance on the Local Restrictions Grant schemes.

According to the Gov.uk website, we can expect to receive this by Friday 6 November.

Once received,  Birmingham City Council will aim to have full details of each schemes eligibility criteria, and how to apply, available for you as quickly as possible. We have put together a Business Support page on the Harborne Village website here and will continue to update this regularly to let you know what support is available for you and your business.

In the meantime, see the latest news story about the LRSG on GOV.UK