I was proud to be part of the City of London’s licensing committee tonight to support our fabulous chair Sophie Anne Fernandes who announced at our annual dinner the new support for business impacted by the pandemic.

Our new grant scheme of up to £10 million will be targeted at businesses that primarily operate in the City of London in the retail, hospitality, leisure and medical sectors.

An estimated 1,100 businesses are expected to qualify for support. The City Corporation will be contacting most businesses that qualify directly and inviting them to apply for this support through an online application process. Other businesses will also be able to apply via the City Corporation website.

The scheme goes further than the Government support being offered through the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme which excludes retail and some personal service sectors from the scheme. The two grant schemes will run in tandem and will both be accessible through the same application process.

Businesses with lower and medium rateable values will receive higher levels of grant on the basis that SME businesses may be more at risk and less able to cope with the reduction of “in person” trade.