Support for businesses

Businesses and residents are preparing for new national restrictions that come at a time the high street was preparing for Christmas and residents are planning their festive shopping. Cheshire West and Chester Council are working with local businesses to provide as much support as possible.

The Government has announced the restrictions to tackle the latest escalation of COVID-19. Subject to Parliamentary approval these measures will be active from Thursday, 5 November, through to 2 December.

The new restrictions require people to stay at home, except for specific purposes, prevent gathering with people from different households and require the closing of certain businesses and venues.

Councillor Carol Gahan, Cabinet Member for Legal and Finance said: “I know how hard these latest restrictions are hitting businesses and residents alike. Grants for businesses required to close from 5 November will be made available as soon as possible.  We will share the guidance and full criteria for how the different grant schemes will work as soon as they are available from Government.

“From talking with our businesses, we are aiming to keep the application process as simple as possible. We will publish an online application form and I would like to encourage businesses to apply for all the grants they are eligible for, when applications open. To save time for business owners, having their bank account details, business address, company registration numbers and VAT numbers to hand will help them.”

Full details on each of the different grants will be explained on the Council’s website and the Let’s Talk Business website as soon as the details are available.

Cheshire West and Chester moved into tier 2 (High Alert Level) on 19 October and there will be an element of support for businesses affected by tier 2 restrictions covering the period from 19 October to 5 November when the new restrictions come into force. More details will be available on the Council’s website shortly.

The Council also offers additional support for businesses including:

• Advice and guidance on accessing all types of business finance,
• Information and support with training and reskilling
• Import and export information, including accessing new markets
• Start-up business support
• Redundancy support for businesses and employees

Visit: www.letstalkbizcw.co.uk or www.candwgrowthhub.co.uk for more information.

For people who are self-employed, different support exists, with the self-employment income support scheme extension providing critical support.  There are two grants available covering November 2020 to January 2021 and February 2021 to April 2021.  Full eligibility criteria and details of how to claim this support is available on: www.gov.uk

The Government’s Furlough scheme has been extended to 30 November, meaning employees can receive 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked.

All information, eligibility criteria and details of how to claim is available on: www.gov.uk

The Government has ordered certain businesses and venues to close. These include:

• all non-essential retail, including, but not limited to clothing and electronics stores, vehicle showrooms, travel agents, betting shops, auction houses, tailors, car washes, tobacco and vape shops. Non-essential retail can remain open for delivery to customers and click-and-collect.
• indoor and outdoor leisure facilities such as bowling alleys, leisure centres and gyms, sports facilities including swimming pools, golf courses and driving ranges, dance studios, stables and riding centres, soft play facilities, climbing walls and climbing centres, archery and shooting ranges, water and theme parks,
• entertainment venues such as theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, adult gaming centres and arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys, concert halls, zoos and other animal attractions, botanical gardens;
• personal care facilities such as hair, beauty and nail salons, tattoo parlours, spas, massage parlours, body and skin piercing services, non-medical acupuncture, and tanning salons.

Food shops, supermarkets, garden centres and certain other retailers providing essential goods and services can remain open. Essential retail should follow COVID-secure guidelines to protect customers, visitors and workers.

Hospitality venues like restaurants, bars and pubs must close, but can still provide takeaway and delivery services.

Hotels, hostels and other accommodation should only open for those who have to travel for work purposes and for a limited number of other exemptions which will be set out in law.

A full list of the business closures can be seen at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1200/