Update to Covid business grants and restrictions

 All,

I would like to preface this message by also adding my extreme gratitude 

to all of you who provided me with the factual evidence relating to the 

impact the restrictions have been having on your businesses. this 

information I was able to deliver first hand in the meeting last week 

and as you can see from the message below, it had significant impact on 

today's announcement.

In addition, I want to remind everyone that the current 'restrictions' 

are actually Strong Guidelines and are not Legislated in to law unlike 

the restrictions we operated under last year. The key statement that I 

urge you all to appply is whether applying the measures to achieve 

social distancing and dividers are rendering you uneconomic, in which 

case, so long as you have done what you can physically but most 

importantly Financially, or it would render you Uneconomic, then you can 

NOT be prosecuted by any Regulatory Officer or suffer Enforcement action 

against you.

Please take special note of the information in the last paragraph 

relating to the qualifying value being reduced to a 50% impact from the 

original 60%. This is because of our submissions and will enable many 

more businesses to apply for the ERF, which they should do now.

Once again my gratitude to you all for your support.

Berin Jones

Chairman

Dear All,

You will no doubt be aware that at today's press conference the First 

Minister outlined a timetable for relaxing and lifting restrictions from 

Alert Level 2 to AL Zero over the next 14 days.

This will mean all of hospitality will be released from operating under 

restrictions by Jan 28.

The timetable is listed below.

I would like to thank you all for your fantastic support in a very 

difficult time. Your contributions, including case studies of how the 

restrictions were damaging your businesses, has helped us to get this 

relaxation. Economy Minister Vaughan Gething told me yesterday that the 

industry representations that had been made- including the direct UKHC 

lobbying meeting of last Wednesday with14 spokespeople attending, which 

was then written up and sent directly to the Minister- had had a 

significant impact on the Cabinet's decision making.

Two further points.:

Funding: Additional funding- I continue to make the case for further 

support for the period of restrictions and will also be asking for a 

recovery fund for our industry.

ERF is now open and the NDR-based grants are also now available. CRF3 is 

also now open with £17m more in it -applications can be made via the 

link in the lower email in this chain.

New threshold: After raising your representations, the Miniser agreed to 

reduce the qualifying threshold for ERF to 50 per cent of turnover from 

60 per cent.

I will circulate this single point separately to ensure that those 

without a lot of time to read through these emails see it in the subject 

bar.

Lifting timetable is:

Full process is: There will be four stages to lifting the current alert 

level 2 restrictions, depending on cases remaining low:

This Saturday: Numbers allowed to attend an outdoor event will rise from 

50 to 500

Friday 21 January: Crowds allowed to return to sporting events, paving 

the way for rugby Six Nations full houses in Cardiff, and no limits on 

those attending outdoor events

Friday 28 January: Nightclubs can reopen and hospitality allowed to 

operate normally, although Covid passes will still be required for large 

events, plus cinemas, nightclubs and theatres. Working from home no 

longer a legal requirement

Thursday 10 February: Return to a three-week review cycle as the country 

is at alert level zero

Thanks

Dave

David Chapman

Executive Director for Wales