COVID-19

Lambeth Businesses Covid-19 Impact Survey

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As part of Lambeth’s efforts to continue to support local businesses, they’ve created a follow-up business survey with the launch of the second Business Covid-19 Impact Survey. Your views will help them to design future support programmes for local businesses ?

They want to hear from all sectors in the borough, and ask about the impact of Covid-19, the public health measures businesses are implementing, staff and skills shortages, business support needs, and travel patterns. The deadline for survey responses is 4th March, and will take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

They’ll also be able to refer businesses who complete the survey to appropriate business support programmes as needed based on their responses.
We encourage you to complete this survey so that we can ensure that any support programmes in the future truly represent our business base.

Complete the survey

Economic Resilience Fund Phase 4

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Following a top-up of the Additional Restrictions Grant from Government following the Omicron variant and Plan B measures coming into place, Lambeth Council are pleased to launch Phase 4 of the Economic Resilience Fund to support businesses who have been most severely impacted.

The fourth phase of the Economic Resilience Fund will target personal care businesses and independent hospitality and leisure businesses who provide in-person services.

Personal care businesses may be eligible for grants of £2,677 in line with the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant awards. Independent Hospitality and Leisure businesses may be eligible for either £10,000 or £20,000, depending on their size.

Businesses from these priority sectors must have fixed commercial costs to be eligible. Organisations will not need a business rate liability to qualify.

Applications for the fourth phase of the Economic Resilience Fund will open at 10am on Wednesday 2nd February 2022 and will close when all funding has been awarded or is likely to be awarded due to volume of applications.

These applications will be assessed on a first come, first serve basis.

Please note that the total funding pot available through the fourth phase of the Economic Resilience Fund is significantly smaller than previous phases, and as such, Lambeth expect funding to be exhausted quickly. The application form will be available on their website.

Businesses are being notified in advance to provide you with enough time to prepare the evidence you’ll need to submit as part of your application. Further details on the Fund and evidence required is available on the Lambeth Council
website.

For full eligibility criteria and to apply, visit Lambeth’s Omicron and Hospitality Grant Application Page

If you have any queries, please email enterprise@lambeth.gov.uk.

Chancellor announces £1bn fund for hospitality and leisure

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UPDATE [14/01/21]: Hospitality and Leisure Grant is now open for applications, please note retail is not eligible: – https://beta.lambeth.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-information-businesses/get-grant-or-loan/omicron-hospitality-leisure-grant

We continue to lobby the government for greater funding support to local businesses. Please keep checking our website for further business support updates.

The Chancellor has announced a £1bn fund for the hospitality sector and an extra £30m to help theatres and museums.

These measures for hospitality and leisure businesses include:

  • Grants for hospitality and leisure businesses in England, worth up to £6,000 per premise. The Treasury has set aside £683m for these payments, which will be administered through local authorities and will be available in the coming weeks.
  • The resumption of the statutory sick pay rebate scheme, which will reimburse employers in the UK with fewer than 250 workers for the cost of paying statutory sick pay for Covid-related absences for up to two weeks.
  • £30 million further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter.

We have received indication that the cash grants will be based on rateable value, which follows the previous grant schemes from government. We’re yet to receive detailed guidance, as soon as we know how these funds will be administered, we will let you know.

We are also aware that whilst this additional financial support is welcomed, the one-off grant awards available through the new scheme will do little to address the income lost by businesses at this time of year, and so we will continue to lobby government for more support.

Business Booster – Calling on the Government to ACT

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Give a #BusinessBooster to save our high streets, towns and city centres from extinction!

UPDATE[21/12/2021, 3PM]: Rishi Sunak has announced an additional £1bn in financial support for the hospitality and leisure sectors, with every business able to claim a one-off cash grant of £6,000. Matthew Sims, Founder of the Business Booster campaign has responded to the recent announcement: “This isn’t the bailout businesses across the UK need and have been waiting for since Plan B was announced over two weeks ago. A £1bn package of support sounds impressive, but is a headline that distracts from the true reality that these are token measures and in no way reflect the reality that hospitality businesses are facing.”

“A £6,000 grant in no way compensates for the dramatic loss in trading hospitality businesses in particular are facing, and more important they can’t wait weeks for financial aid.”

“With speculation mounting of further restrictions, we need the Government to ensure any announcement is accompanied with a revised raft of financial support and measures to ensure hospitality, retail and leisure businesses get the support they need to mitigate closure and redundancies.”

We are joining hundreds of BID partners and calling on the Government to support Streatham’s pubs, restaurants, leisure services, venues and shops, in light of Plan B.

A letter, sent to the Prime Minister, is demanding a boost for businesses across the country. Main features of the letter include:

  • BUSINESS RATES RELIEF
  • VAT EXTENSION
  • PROVIDE GRANTS

The full copy and pasted version of the letter can be read here.

The campaign is led by Croydon BID, and backed by other parties including British BIDs, Association of Town and City Management (ATCM), The Bid Foundation, the British Beer and Pub Association and many more. Matthew Sims, CEO of Croydon BID and Founder of the Business Booster campaign said: “It is baffling and alarming that our Chancellor is doggedly sticking to measures which are out of date and out of touch with the stark and desperate reality retail, hospitality and leisure are facing. Without swift intervention, many businesses will be faced with closures, layoffs and cutbacks masking the significant financial support Government has ploughed into these sectors during the pandemic a woeful waste of money.”

https://croydonbid.com/news/business-booster-calling-government-act

Lambeth wide Call made to support our threatened hospitality sector

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UPDATE[21/12/2021,3PM]: The Chancellor has announced an additional £1bn in financial support for the hospitality and leisure sectors, once we have more details, we’ll inform our businesses. 

We have co-signed a joint letter from the Chief Executive and Leader of Lambeth Council and other South Lambeth Business Improvement Districts to call on the Chancellor to provide urgent financial support to businesses who are again fighting for survival because of the surge in Covid-19 infections. Cllr Holland has written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to request urgent financial help to businesses in the hospitality sector who would suffer during periods of increased Covid-19 restrictions.

She was joined by Gianluca Rizzo, Managing Director Brixton BID; Louise Abbotts BID Manager InStreatham; and Nic Durston Chief Executive South Bank BID & South Bank Employers Group.  Charlotte Ashworth, BID manager for the Station to Station BID in West Norwood also backed the letter along with Jeremy Keates, manager of This is Clapham BID, Vauxhall One chief executive Bernard Collier and Natalie Raben, chief executive of WeAreWaterloo.

They wrote: “As infection rates rise across both London and the rest of the country, people are aware and supportive of the measures and restrictions that need to be taken by Government to ensure the safety of those most vulnerable in society.

“But we also understand that to best follow these measures, businesses that rely on footfall will need support in place to survive this period … we urge government to urgently introduce more discretionary business rates funding and Additional Restrictions Grant resources now to support businesses.”

Read the full letter.

Please visit our website www.instreatham.com/rescue-recover-reform to see what COVID resources are available to you, including 15% off PPE at Mediworld, free Lateral Flow tests and safety posters for your premises.

Plan B Guidance

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From 30th November, unless exempt, everyone must wear a face covering on public transport and in shops.

The new requirements also apply to:

  • shops and supermarkets
  • shopping centres (malls and indoor markets)
  • post offices, banks/building societies, solicitors/accountants
  • premises providing personal care and beauty treatments
  • public transport

From 13 December office workers who can work from home should do so

From 15 December, certain venues and events will be required by law to check that all visitors aged 18 years or over are fully vaccinated, have proof of a negative test in the last 48 hours, or have an exemption.

Our priorities remain unchanged: to boost confidence and drive footfall. We are doing everything we can to keep shoppers safe this festive season, we are topping up our sanitiser stations and using outdoor signage to remind people to keep safe.