Omicron support grants go live in Sheffield after councillor warns delays would see firms go bust

Sheffield City Council has launched grants for hospitality, accommodation and leisure businesses hit by a drop in trade due to the virus.

Sums of up to £6,000 are available depending on the rent or mortgage or rateable value of the property.

WHEN WAS THE SCHEME ANNOUNCED?

The Government announced the scheme on January 7 stating it had distributed millions to councils and businesses were ‘encouraged to apply’.

Ten days later Lib Dem councillor Shaffaq Mohammed warned they would ‘wither and go under’ due to delays.

Now the scheme is up and running.

WHO CAN CLAIM?

The city council’s website says grants are for Sheffield hospitality and leisure businesses whose ‘primary activity must be the provision of face-to-face services from commercial premises’.

Rent payers must be able to demonstrate a loss of trade due to the Omicron variant. Excluded companies include retailers, personal care businesses and manufacturers.

It is not known how much grant money is available.

In 2020, Sheffield City Council was given £113m by the Government to help local businesses during the first wave of the pandemic.

Some £16m was given back after the authority ‘failed to give the money out in time’, the Lib Dems say.

The authority last week announced it was setting up another scheme called the Additional Restrictions Grant and the allocation for South Yorkshire was £1.7m. The intention was to launch it alongside the hospitality grant.

‘Plan B’ measures to combat the spread of the Omicron variant were agreed by MPs in December and triggered a wave of cancellations, bosses said.

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