An emergency fund of up to £40million has been announced today in a bid to rescue Liverpool City Region’s vital hospitality and leisure sector from economic collapse, including those in Southport, Formby, Bootle and the rest of Sefton.
In a joint announcement this morning, the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Regionand the Mayor and Leaders of the city region’s six local authorities, including Sefton Council Leader Cllr Ian Maher, said that the unprecedented emergency fund is vital to protect the sector.
Last week the Government announced an additional £7million in support funding for the new areas impacted by new enhanced Covid-19 restrictions.
The sector supports over 50,000 jobs in 4,000 businesses and contributes £5billion a year to the local economy. Over 200 businesses in the sector have already been lost in the face of Covid-19.
The emergency stop-gap fund has been set up as a direct response to new Government restrictions, which came into force on Saturday (3 October) forbidding people from mixing with other households in indoor venues including pubs, bars and restaurants.
In a joint statement, speaking directly to businesses in the sector, the leaders said:
“The new Covid-19 restrictions will make the already perilous situation for our economy even tougher than it already is.
“As Leaders of the Liverpool City Region, we all understand why further restrictions may be needed to halt the spread of Covid-19 in the communities we represent. But we also know that at the same time they will deal a hammer blow to our economy and in particular to our vital hospitality and leisure sector, on which over 50,000 jobs depend across our region.
“We want to send a message to those businesses that we understand the pain you are going through, your fight to survive and that we stand with you.
“As elected leaders, we are collectively committed to Build Back Better from Covid-19. But we know that once a business is gone it is gone and that if we do not act now to protect our economy from these new restrictions, we risk having nothing to build back from.
“So, our teams have worked at full-tilt, in partnership across the Combined Authority and our six Local Authorities, to identify and re-purpose funds for an up to £40million in to a package of emergency interim financial support, aiming to support as many businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector as we possibly can.
“We have taken this extremely difficult decision with the aim of providing last resort, stop-gap funding to keep viable businesses going in the short-term and protect as many jobs as possible while we continue to lobby the Government to invest in our economic survival and our future recovery.
“The fund is expected to launch this week (commencing 5th October). We hope to process applications within a week to meet the urgent needs of successful applicants.
“The process will be coordinated through local authorities, just as previous Government grants were earlier this year.”
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