Tag Archive for: Croydon BID

Business Booster Campaign

In light of Plan B and the effect it is having on our hospitality, leisure and retail sectors, Love Wimbledon BID is joining hundreds of BIDs around the country and calling on the Government to deliver a #BusinessBooster to support venues, pubs, clubs, restaurants, leisure services and shops.

The hospitality sector is vital to our economic recovery and the current measures in place do not reflect the current concerns faced by businesses.

We are calling on Government to:

  • Provide Business Rates Relief
    Offer businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors 100% Business Rate Relief for up to and including 31st March 2022 [no cap]. After which, we call on the Government to support the recovery by providing businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a 50% Business Rate Relief from 1st April 2022 to 30th June 2022 [no cap]. The current package of 25% Business Rate Relief was designed for an open economy, post-Covid. The rise of the Omicron variant, increased restrictions and their impact on hospitality, leisure and retail, require a response from Government that mirrors lockdown support.
  • VAT Extension
    Extend the current VAT reduction for the hospitality sector of 12.5% through to 31st March 2023 to allow the sector to respond and support the re-emergence of the UK economy. The current rate of 12.5% allows businesses to achieve cost savings and most importantly of all for the economy and consumer confidence, not to pass the increased cost on allowing for the economy to recover once more in Spring 2022.
  • Provide Grants
    Introduce grants up to £15,000 by rateable value to businesses within the hospitality, retail and leisure sector to enable them to survive the festive and New Year trading period, plus the impending rent quarter date of 25th December 2021. The quoted £250 million in unspent grants is not consistent in level and would place disproportionate pressure on business, simply because of their location. Vast swathes of businesses would simply not receive a penny.

Thank you to Croydon BID, BID Foundation, British BIDs, ATCM, British Beer & Pub Association, UKHospitality and Night Time Industries Association who are the campaign founders.

Find out more here.

Bounce Back Better Campaign

 

Love Wimbledon is proud to support a campaign launched by Croydon BID “Bounce Back Better”, an extension of the Raise The Bar campaign, in order to call on the government to provide more support to retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in 2021/2022.

The campaign manifesto covers 4 main asks:

  1. One-off grant for retail, hospitality & leisure businesses
    Local Authorities lack the administrative and payments infrastructure required to facilitate a monthly financial support model proposed by government for eligible businesses in Tier 2 and Tier 3 – many businesses are receiving funds too late, or worse not at all. We ask Government to provide a one-off ‘Bounce Back’ grant of up to £15,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in Tier 2 and Tier 3 across England and Wales with a rateable value of up to and including £150,000. This would give 137,000 businesses vital funds delivered in a manner Local Authorities are equipped to distribute at a total maximum cost of £2.05bn
  2. Pause national insurance contributions for furloughed employees
    For the furlough scheme investment to date of £47m to be fully effective, business support must reflect short and long term challenges. While employees receive 80% of their salary through the extension of the furlough scheme, businesses are still paying out for National Insurance, placing greater strain on survival. We ask Government to remove the burden of National Insurance from employers whose staff are on furlough, saving the average business £2,000 per month until the end of March 2021.
  3. Extension of 100% business rates holiday for 2021/22
    The ‘payment holiday’ for hospitality, leisure and leisure businesses with a rateable value less than £51,000 earlier this year was an extraordinary and critical measure saving each business up to £25,000, a total tax cut worth over £1bn. We ask Government to extend the 100% business rates holiday into 2021/2022 for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. Every pound saved is a pound to help businesses stay trading and retain staff.

  4. Extension of VAT reduction scheme
    The cut in VAT from 20% to 5% is a major boost for the hospitality sector enabling businesses to pass on a £4.1 billion saving onto consumers. With a vaccine becoming a reality in the coming months, our Bed and Breakfasts, hotels and restaurants could be a vital catalyst to local economic recovery. Research by CGA for UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association and the British Institute of Innkeeping found support on VAT and business rates are top of hospitality’s essential business support needs. We ask government to extend the VAT reduction to 5% for Hospitality from 1 April 2021 up to and including 31st March 2022.

To support retail, hospitality and leisure sectors – the beating heart of our economy, sign the petition here.

For more details visit the campaign website.