19 January 2022
Eligible businesses can now apply for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant
Woking Borough Council has secured further government funding to support businesses severely affected by the spread of the Omicron variant. The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant is a scheme to support hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses who have had their trading impacted by the recent surge in COVID cases because of the Omicron variant.
The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure grant scheme payment is a one-off payment which is applicable to:
- Business rated businesses – you receive a business rate bill.
- The applicant must be the rate payer named on the business rates bill.
- The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure scheme will provide one-off grants of up to £6,000.
The following payment thresholds apply for these businesses:
- Businesses occupying hereditaments appearing on the local rating list with a rateable value of exactly £15,000 or under on 30 December 2021 will receive a payment of £2,667.
- Businesses occupying hereditaments appearing on the local rating list with a rateable value over £15,000 and less than £51,000 on 30 December 2021 will receive a payment of £4,000.
- Businesses occupying hereditaments appearing on the local rating list with a rateable value of exactly £51,000 or over on 30 December 2021 will receive a payment of £6,000.
Businesses will only be eligible where their main service falls within hospitality, leisure, or accommodation. If your business operates services that could be considered hospitality, leisure or accommodation, and falls into another category, the main service will be determined by assessing which category constitutes 50% or more of the overall income.
For the purpose of this scheme the following exclusions apply:
- Hospitality - the definition of a hospitality business should exclude food kiosks and businesses whose main service (generating 50% or more of income) is a takeaway
- Leisure - the definition of a leisure business should exclude all retail businesses, coach tour operators, and tour operators
- Accommodation - the definition of an accommodation business should exclude private dwellings, education accommodation, residential homes, care homes, residential family centres and beach huts.
The full list of eligible businesses are available on our coronavirus business support grants webpage.
Cllr Kevin Davis, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development said: “The Omicron variant of COVID has dealt another bitter blow to leisure and hospitality businesses, and during the industry’s busiest time of the year.
“We want to support our local businesses as quickly as possible with the extra funding that central government has promised. To do so, I urge you to read the eligibility criteria for this grant before applying. This will enable our finance team to process applications as efficiently and quickly as possible.”
The deadline for online applications for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant is 13 February 2022. Successful applications will be paid as soon as possible and final payments will be made by 31 March 2022.
