Covid-19: Welsh government confirm £120m support for personal care sector

The Welsh government has confirmed that an additional £120m of funding will be made available to the personal care sector to support businesses that have been, and are impacted, by the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant between 13 December 2021 and 14 February 2022.

On 22 December 2021, the first minister of Wales announced that the additional funding would be made available to retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism business, along with their supply chains.

This came as Wales was moved to alert level two from 6am on Boxing Day 2021, with new measures including two metre social distancing, restrictions on the number of people allowed to meet and attend events, and requirements for licensed premises to take additional measures to protect customers and staff.

The £120m funding includes three elements:

1. Non-domestic rates (NDR) linked grants of up to £6,000. There is no application process for the grants, however businesses are required to register with their local authority to confirm their details and receive payments.
2. A discretionary fund for businesses, sole traders and freelancers who do not pay rates, with grants between £500 – £2000 available.
3. The reopening of the Welsh government’s Economic Resilience Fund (ERF), which will support businesses who have seen a reduction in their turnover of more than 60%.

Business rate payers in Wales will also receive 50% domestic rates relief for the duration of 2022-23.

Businesses will be able to register for support via local authority websites from 13 January 2022, when the registration process for the NDR linked grants will open.

The application process for the discretionary funding and ERF will commence on 17 January 2022 and applications will remain open for two weeks. Payments will start within days of opening.

Businesses can find further information and discover which support they are eligible for here.