First of all, I’m sure you saw that the Budget was announced yesterday. We are in the process of collating a document that summarises the key points that arose and this will be sent out to you as soon as it’s ready.
In the meantime, the ERF Sector Specific Fund Phase 2 has been announced by Business Wales. Like the first phase, this fund targets businesses in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries and their supply chain businesses but this time has an added requirement that you must have over 10 full time staff. Retail businesses continue NOT to be eligible.
I strongly recommend that any business that meets the eligibility criteria puts in an application – we had a lot of successful applications with the first phase of the Sector Specific Grant so one would hope that this phase will be processed in a similar way. If you need assistance with your application, please get in touch.
ERF Sector Specific Fund Phase 2
The Sector Specific Grant application phase 2 window will open at 10am on Tuesday 9 March 2021 until 8pm on Friday 12 March 2021. An eligibility checker can be found here https://fundchecker.businesswales.gov.wales/ssgp2 but, broadly, the key requirements are as follows.
- Only Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (HTL) businesses and their associated supply chain businesses are eligible.
- The business must employ 10 or more staff on a full-time-equivalent (FTE) basis.
- The business must have experienced at least a 60% decrease in turnover as a result of ongoing alert level 4 restrictions between 25 January 2021 and 31 March 2021.
- The business must have a turnover of at least £50,000.
- The business must be one of either:
- a company registered with Companies House;
- a VAT-registered business with turnover above £85,000; or
- a business operating in a sector exempt from VAT with turnover above £85,000.
- The business’ operating address is in Wales and it has employees in Wales.
- The business is not eligible for the (COVID-19) Self-employment Income Support Scheme through the UK Government.
The grant available is up to £1,500 per full time employee so it’s well worth applying for if you meet the criteria. The application process is only open for 4 days so do not miss out if you are eligible and do get in touch if you need us to help out.
Click here to view ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ helpsheet provided by Business Wales but, as ever, get in touch if you have any further queries.