Businesses affected by Omicron urged to apply for grants by deadline

With deadlines fast approaching, businesses are being urged to make sure they don’t miss out on financial support to help with the impact of Omicron.

Additional financial support for businesses not eligible for the mandatory Omicron hospitality and leisure grant has been introduced by High Peak Borough Council.

The Council has a limited budget of £167,000 to provide discretionary grants to suppliers to hospitality, leisure and accommodation, the travel sector and event space businesses who didn’t qualify for the mandatory grants.

The grants will help to contribute to overheads incurred by these businesses at the time when trade was most impacted.

Council Leader, Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: “The ongoing effects of the pandemic continue to hit businesses across the High Peak so we’ve targeted this additional financial help to those that don’t qualify for the mandatory Omicron grant.

“We want to see our local businesses thriving and offering discretionary grants such as this means we can support more local companies through this challenging period.

“As ever, we want to get this money out to businesses and making a difference as quickly as possible so I would urge those that are eligible to apply now as the deadline is fast approaching.”

The deadline for applications to the discretionary fund is Friday 4th March. Businesses who qualify for the mandatory fund have until 11th March to apply.

For more information about eligibility, and to apply, go to highpeak.gov.uk/Coronavirus-Business-Financial-Support

Deputy Leader and Executive Councillor for Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure, Councillor Damien Greenhalgh said: “Ideally we would have supported a wider range of businesses but the amount awarded to the Borough is relatively small so we have had to make some tough choices.

“In view of that, we’ve prioritised those who will have faced event cancellations, their suppliers and the travel sector.”