Details have been revealed for a new Liverpool city region-wide £9.5m COVID-19 support fund for hospitality and leisure businesses and those in the supply chain. Tony McDonough reports

Details of a new £9.5m fund to support small and micro businesses across Merseyside affected by COVID-19 have been released by Liverpool City Council.

The Hospitality, Leisure and Retail Grants scheme is part of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s £40m emergency support fund. It will open for applications on Monday, November 30.

It has been allocated to support small retail businesses in Liverpool city region that were forced to close due to the second national lockdown, as well as the supply chain supporting the hospitality and leisure sector.

Included in this sector is non-essential retail, the self-employed, sole traders, licensed market traders and limited companies based at home who predominantly supply the hospitality and leisure sectors. The scheme will be open for applications from 10am on Monday, November 30, and will close at 5pm on Friday, December 11.

Business must also satisfy the following criteria:

• They must be based in the Liverpool city region (covering the local authority areas of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral).
• Have been trading since 11 March 2020
• Have not been eligible or received a grant from a local authority from October 2020 onwards.
• Employ one or more people.
• Be able to demonstrate that its trading activities have been significantly and negatively impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.
• Be State Aid compliant.
• Still be trading on or before October 1, 2020.

Almost 9,000 businesses in Liverpool have already received financial support since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK in March. For this latest scheme applicants must have a turnover of not more than £10.2m a balance sheet total of no more than £5.1m and a staff headcount of no more than 50 people.

A micro business must satisfy two or more of the following requirements: have a turnover of no more than £632,000; a balance sheet total of not more than £316,000 and a staff headcount of no more than 10 people.

The aim is to pay the grant by BACS within 10 working days of an application being approved. Click here to view the grant application process and full criteria.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “Liverpool and its partner authorities in the city region are working hard to support as many businesses as possible which have been affected by the pandemic.

“This latest round of funding will target a number of businesses who make a valuable contribution to our economy, particularly in the hospitality and leisure sector, and yet who have been able to access only restricted funding so far.”