COVID business grants update: pubs have one week left to apply for Christmas Support Payment

WILTSHIRE Council is urging owners and managers of pubs in the county that applications for the Christmas Support Payment (CSP) close on 31 January 2021.

This lump sum grant of £1,000 is for ‘wet’ pubs that derive less than 50% of sales from food and were established before 1 December 2020.

Pubs that were already successful through the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) have been contacted to receive the payment and to be made aware of other grants they are entitled to, but any pub that has not already applied for the LRSG needs to apply before the deadline or they will miss out.

Cllr Philip Whitehead, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: “We have already contacted all ‘wet’ pubs that received grants through the LRSG scheme, but pubs operating a pub/restaurant/hotel model may not have been contacted, so they should get in touch.

“We also want to hear from any other ‘wet’ pubs in Wiltshire who think they may be eligible and haven’t yet been in contact, as we are concerned that some have not yet applied for this grant, and time is running out.

“So far we have distributed more than £116m in grants to Wiltshire businesses, and we want to do all we can to support businesses during this difficult time.”

The council has also now received the government guidance on eligibility for the post-5 January lockdown grant from government, which was announced by the Chancellor at the start of lockdown.

Only businesses that are eligible for the LRSG scheme can apply for this grant; they can find out if they’re eligible here.

Businesses that have already applied for an LRSG do not need to apply again, as eligible businesses will receive a 42-day LRSG payment and a one-off payment and do not need to contact the council – these will be paid automatically once the council have received the funding from government. Businesses that have not applied for the LRSG have until 31 March to do so.

The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG, also known as Discretionary Payments) is currently closed, and it is expected to reopen for new applications only in the next few days – any business that has already applied for an ARG does not need to re-apply.

Businesses can find out more and apply for grants on the Wiltshire Council website; and for the latest updates, they should sign up for the business newsletter by clicking the ‘business and economy’ checkbox.