Welsh government announces £140m support package for Welsh businesses

Following the package of business support announced by central government last week, including the new Job Support Scheme, the Welsh government has announced that it is making an additional £140m available to businesses in Wales. This is to help businesses deal with the economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic along with the UK’s exit from the EU.

The funding comes from the third phase of the Welsh government’s Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) and will see £80m made available to support businesses with projects that can help them transition to a post-Covid economy. It will require co-investment from companies and a clear plan about how they will adjust their business. Of this £80m, £20m will be ring fenced to support tourism and hospitality businesses over the winter months.

An additional £60m will be allocated to support businesses impacted by local lockdown restrictions, which are currently affecting a large swathe of South Wales.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said: “This additional help has been designed to complement and build on the support announced by the Chancellor last week, again demonstrating the Welsh government’s proactive approach to go above and beyond in providing extra financial assistance that we know our businesses and workers need.”

The £80m of business grants will be open to micro businesses, SMEs and large businesses:

• Micro businesses (employing between 1 and 9 people) can apply for funding of up to £10,000, provided they match this with their own investment of at least 10%.

• SMEs (employing between 10 and 249 people) can apply for up to £150,000 on the condition they match this with their own investment of at least 10% for small businesses (1-49 staff) and 20% for medium sized (50-249 staff) businesses.

• Large businesses (employing 250+ people) can apply for up to £200,000 on the condition they match this with their own investment of at least 50%.

The Rapid Reaction (Local Lockdown) Fund, worth up to £60m, will also provide grants based on the Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) system to businesses who have been materially impacted by local lockdown:

• Grants of £1,500 may be available to retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000.
• Grants of £1,000 may be available to businesses with rateable value of £12,000 or less.

The Eligibility Checker, which will allow businesses to check whether they can access funding from the third phase of the ERF, is now live and can be accessed here.

For further information please contact Nicola McNeely on 07870 261 520 or at [email protected].

For details of the support available from central government through the Job Support Scheme please see our blog https://www.hcrlaw.com/blog/update-on-the-new-government-job-support-scheme/ or contact Andrea Thomas on [email protected] or 07725 240 233