Written question WQ82427

If Wales had followed the English approach to business support, Welsh businesses would be significantly worse off today. We have committed hundreds of millions more than we have received as Wales’ share of that support to help businesses fighting to survive the pandemic.

The measures we have taken are in addition to those provided by the UK Government and indeed, our latest package of support opened to applications on Monday COVID-19 Crisis Support Tool | Business Wales (gov.wales).

In Wales, a four employee hospitality business with a rateable value of £12001k will have been eligible for £21k since December 2020. The equivalent business in England would receive up to £18k, including the Restart Grant for the same period. Only around an estimated 2% of eligible business in Wales would qualify for the £18k Restart Grant in England and if the English Restart Grant was applied in Wales, 85% of businesses here would receive between £2k and £8k. In contrast, the minimum an eligible business in Wales with a property of any size will have received since December 2020 is £10k and a hospitality business with ten employees and rateable property of £20k will have received up to £52.5k since December .

In addition and unlike England, our 100% rates relief scheme for retail, hospitality and leisure will run for a full 12 months.

We will continue to do all we can to support Welsh businesses through these incredibly difficult times and are actively considering options beyond the current package of support, which will be announced in the coming weeks.