On the 5^th of November, it was reported that Local Authorities are to be given extra funding with guidance from Central Government stating clearly that it can be used to help businesses in the events industry.

In updates to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), Local Authorities can determine how much funding to provide to businesses from the funding provided, and exactly which businesses to target.

The guidance from central Government said: “We encourage Local Authorities to develop discretionary grant schemes to help those businesses which – while not legally forced to close – are nonetheless severely impacted by the restrictions put in place to control the spread of Covid-19. This could include – for example – businesses which supply the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, or businesses in the events sector.”

Local Authorities have also been given the power to assist businesses outside the typical business rates system, which have also been effectively forced to close, this could include many suppliers to the conference and meetings industry ie AV companies etc.

The guidance also says that Local Authorities could use ARG funding to provide additional support to larger local businesses which are important to the local economy, on top of the funding provided to those businesses via the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) scheme, which is activated under Government-imposed restrictions.

When determining the size of the grant, the guidance issued advises Local Authorities to take into account the level of fixed costs faced by the business in question, such as the number of employees, whether they are unable to trade online and the consequent scale of Covid-19 losses.

To comply with State Aid laws, the guidance added: “The grant amounts given to individual businesses will be subject to state aid limits.”

The situation is still very unclear, much depends on where you are / your rateable value / the exact view of your local council ie do they consider that your busines is a closed business, for a long time conference venues were closed, now they can run events for up to 30, is this material?

Check if your business is eligible for a coronavirus grant due to national restrictions (for closed businesses)

Check if you’re eligible for the coronavirus Local Restrictions Support Grant (for open businesses)

Check if you’re eligible for the coronavirus Local Restrictions Support Grant (for closed businesses)

Check if you’re eligible for the coronavirus Additional Restrictions Grant

Check if your nightclub, dance hall or adult entertainment business is eligible for a coronavirus grant due to national restrictions

As ever nothing is clear, at the venue booker we are talking to venues all day every day, if you want to know what is happening in the meeting and conference industry then get in touch. It would help us enormously if you would add your venue to our website, HERE. It will help us put your conference rooms and meeting venues forward for inquiries (for us if you are listed it is quicker and easier), it will also increase your venue’s visibility, google ranks venues partly according to the number of links, this will be another link for your venue.