Recommendation 10

HM Government Acknowledged

43. We recommend that if the Government returns to any form of tiered system or localised lockdowns, that financial support for business should reflect that. (Paragraph 41) 44. We expect the Government to respond to the pandemic with more nuanced and targeted policies in future, and recommend that the Government uses the Budget to review the support it has offered to businesses and announce more targeted support aimed at the sectors most in need. (Paragraph 42) 45. The Government has flexed business grant support throughout the pandemic to reflect the changing landscape of local and national restrictions. £20bn has already been allocated directly to businesses through the grants programme since it was launched in March 2020. 46. As the national lockdown is eased in England, further support, totalling an additional £5bn, is being made available to businesses. The Restart Grants announced in the Spring Budget 2021 will be available to hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation business premises to support them to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed. It is expected that 230,000 hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym business premises and 450,000 non-essential retail premises will benefit from the Restart Grants. 47. The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) continues to enable local authorities to put in place discretionary business support. Local authorities are free to provide support that suits their local area, including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions, and those businesses that fall outside the business rates system such as market traders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an additional £425m will be made available via ARG meaning that more than £2bn of discretionary funding has been made available to local authorities since November 2020. 48. Over £75 billion has been provided to UK businesses through the Government- guaranteed loan schemes since March 2020. The Government flexed its system of loan guarantees to respond to the needs of the economy, such as introducing the Bounce Back Loans scheme to meet the needs of the smallest businesses who were struggling to access financial assistance during the pandemic. 49. The new Recovery Loan Scheme which launched on 6 April 2021, will ensure that viable businesses will continue to have access to Government-backed financial support beyond the end of the previous schemes. The launch of this scheme means that businesses, notably SMEs which are the backbone of the UK economy, will continue to be supported in their ability to access the finance they need throughout 2021. 50. The Recovery Loan Scheme will maintain the generous 80% guarantee to ensure lenders continue to have the confidence to lend, while not extending the 100% guarantee for longer than needed. This will ensure support is more targeted going forwards, as recommended by the Committee.