Hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses in Bath & North East Somerset impacted by the new Omicron variant are being advised about the next steps to apply for financial support.

From Monday 17 January any existing business-rated business which has already been assessed and received a grant in the past and is now entitled to the new Omicron Grant (Hospitality and Leisure sectors) will receive an automated email asking to verify and update details and to complete a self-declaration.

These businesses will then receive an automated payment once the council has received the self-declaration and the payments has been processed.

From Monday 24 January new applications for the Omicron Grant (Hospitality and Leisure sectors) will open. These applications will need to be assessed. A new application form will be updated here with applications closing on February 28

The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) Discretionary Grant will open on Tuesday 1 February and run until Monday 28 February.

A revised policy and criteria will be updated as soon as it has been finalised and published on the same link as the application form. A new application will be required for all applications and these will be assessed against the criteria in the policy.

Deputy council leader and cabinet member for resources, Councillor Richard Samuel, said: "We will assess all the applications against the criteria we have been set by the government and will work to process the grants as quickly as we can. However, Bath & North East Somerset's £366,073 allocation of the £102 million Additional Restrictions Grant top-up will not be sufficient to support all businesses. Unfortunately, this may mean there could be some businesses who may be deemed as significantly impacted by the Omicron COVID-19 variant but will not receive a grant because they are not as severely impacted in comparison to other businesses which have applied."

The purpose of an application window is to assess all applications at the same time and identify the businesses impacted the most and award grants accordingly to those impacted the most.

Businesses must have been trading on 30 December 2021 to be eligible to receive funding under the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme. The eligibility criteria for the payment of the grants are determined by central government. Businesses will only be eligible where their main service falls within hospitality, leisure, or accommodation sectors.

The amounts payable for the grant's payable are based on the Rateable value of the Business as follows:

Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant amounts

Rateable value of business

Amount of grant

£0 to £15,000

£2667

£15,001 to £51,000

£4000

£51,001 and above

£6,000