Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Thursday 14th January 2021

The Government understands the considerable difficulties faced by UK businesses, including those that are adversely affected by the fall in travel and tourism in the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic

However, we have no plans to amend the support package offered to the Travel and Tourism Industry to include Boarding Kennels and Catteries because there is already a wide range of support that these businesses can access.

These include loans, small business grants through local authorities, mortgage holidays and VAT deferral. Given the new national restrictions, we have extended the coronavirus job retention scheme to support the wage costs of employers until end of April 2021.

Government has also increased the overall level of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grant to 80% of trading profits covering November to January for all parts of the UK.

We have extended the Bounce Back Loan Scheme application deadline to the end of March 2021, to further support eligible firms who need it during this ongoing period of difficulty.

Where businesses are required by law to close in order to protect the NHS and save lives they are eligible for grants of up to £1,500 per 14 day period of closure. This was also applicable prior to the latest restrictions in tiered areas where business closures were required by law.

The Chancellor announced 4th January that closed businesses would be eligible for a further one-off payment of up to £9,000.

A further £500m in discretionary funding for local authorities is also being made available. This is in addition to £1.1bn in discretionary funding that has also been allocated to local authorities to support businesses via the Additional Restrictions Grant.

We would always encourage businesses that have not been able to access support, or who are unsure about what support is available, to contact their nearest Business Growth Hub for advice. Government has established a network of 38 of these hubs, one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area in England. Businesses of all sizes are able to access free, tailored guidance from expert advisers who make up the Hub teams. All contact details are online www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts/.

The free Business Support Helpline offers impartial advice to businesses across England (FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098) provides with free, impartial business support.

And firms based in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales can access business support through their devolved Governments.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy