COVID-19 Updates – week commencing 2012/21
More updates of developments from the government and various links to interpretation and guidance.
Go to date:
23 December 2021 …
Tourism Alliance update:
- Self-Isolation Reduced From 10 To 7 Days
The Government has announced that, from today, people who receive negative LFD results on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – will no longer have to self-isolate for the full 10 days. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period.
Those who leave self-isolation on or after day 7 are strongly advised to limit close contact with other people in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, work from home and minimise contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with COVID- 19.
This will be of benefit to businesses facing staff shortages as a result of employees having to self-isolate as a result of Covid.
- Events And Attractions Guidance Updated
The primary guidance for events and attractions businesses has been updated to include:
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- changes to the guidance on face coverings
- working from home
- testing and self-isolation
- Information has been added on COVID status checks, which are now legally required in some venues and events.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-covid-19/events-and-attractions
- New Restriction In Wales
The Welsh Government has announced a series of new restrictions that will come into place from Boxing Day. These include:
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- A general requirement of 2m social distancing in all premises open to the public and workplaces, where reasonable.
- The rule of 6 will apply to gatherings in regulated premises, such as hospitality, cinemas and theatres.
- All licensed premises will need to take additional measures to protect customers and staff, including table service and collecting contact details.
- Face coverings will be required in hospitality settings at all times apart from when seated.
- Large events will not be allowed indoors or outdoors. The maximum number of people who can gather at an indoor event will be 30 and 50 outdoors. There will be an exception for team sports, up to 50 spectators will be able to gather, in addition to those taking part. There is also an exception for events involving children.
- There will also be a separate offence for large gatherings – more than 30 people indoors or 50 people outdoors – in private homes and gardens.
https://gov.wales/strengthened-measures-to-keep-wales-safe-as-omicron-strikes
- Transport Use
The weekly DfT figures have been published and show the impact of the requirement for people to work from home. Use of the Rail Network and tubes in London is down to just over 50% from about 65% the week before. Interestingly, the passengers figures for buses, in and out of London are still holding up at about 75%.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic
- Financial Impact Survey
And finally, can I ask you to continue to ask your members to complete the Financial Impact Survey. We have had almost 1700 replies so far and, speaking to DCMS today, the information gathered from it has provided incredibly valuable in their advocacy work across Government and the Treasury.
The survey will remain open until 10th January and the link is:
https://forms.gle/FMppJCjXcjVMCJK2A
Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance update:
Following a 4 hour NI Executive meeting the following additional restrictions have been announced:
From 26th December
- Nightclubs will close.
- Dancing in all hospitality venues will not be allowed. (Does not apply to weddings or civil partnership celebrations)
- All indoor standing events will not be allowed.
From 06:00 on 27 December, the following apply:
- There will be a legal requirement for businesses to take reasonable measures to achieve 2m social distancing in office spaces or, where this cannot be achieved, to provide alternative mitigations.
- There will be a statutory duty on businesses to take reasonable measures to promote compliance with face coverings requirements, with a grace period until 7 January before enforcement is implemented.
- The exemption of wearing a face covering where it causes severe stress will be removed and the onus of proving an exemption on medical grounds will be on the individual, with a grace period until 7 January before enforcement is implemented.
- There will be a legal duty on businesses to take all reasonable steps to minimize transmission of the spread of the virus, with a grace period until 7 January before enforcement is implemented.
- You will be required to be seated in all indoor hospitality settings with a maximum of 6 people, or 10 people from a single household, allowed at a table. (Children aged 12 and under are not counted in the total. This requirement does not apply to weddings or civil partnership celebrations.)
- Indoor seated and all outdoor events can proceed and it is strongly recommended that face coverings should be worn, LFD tests should be taken before attending events and there should be no multi-household travel in the same vehicle.
- It is strongly recommended that household mixing should be reduced to a maximum of 3 households.
- It is strongly recommended that you should work from home where possible and where that is not possible that there should be regular workplace testing.
We will need to see the detail especially for those where legal requirements are being put onto businesses with regard to social distancing, compliance with face coverings and ‘take all reasonable steps to minimize transmission of the spread of the virus’ and what sort of enforcement will be introduced from 7th January.
It is extremely disappointing that there are no details of any financial support for businesses and we have issued the following statement:
Responding to the announcements made by the NI Executive this evening, Joanne Stuart, CEO NITA said,
“it is extremely disappointing that the NI Executive have announced further restrictions without providing the certainty to businesses about the financial support package to help them to navigate through this difficult and uncertain time. Following the Chancellors announcement on Monday, the NI Executive have £125M of new monies to help mitigate the impact to businesses.
The governments of England, Scotland and Wales have all announced packages to support tourism, leisure, culture and hospitality sectors, but in Northern Ireland, businesses have been left in an intolerable situation with no idea of how they will make it through the next few months. Businesses in the tourism and travel sector are still trying to get back on a sustainable financial footing as a result of the pandemic, and businesses are struggling to survive with little or no cash reserves. Details of the financial package are urgently needed.
The impact of Omicron is of major concern to all of us and businesses are playing their part by following regulations and guidance to ensure that premises and experiences are safe for customers and staff alike. With additional legal requirements being introduced on 27th December further information is urgently required to enable businesses to plan how they ensure compliance.
22 December 2021 …
Tourism Alliance update:
Here is a link to the factsheet on the New Funding
Key Points are:
- There is no definition of a Leisure Business yet
- Hospitality is defined as
- Accommodation
- food & beverage services
- Recipients must be solvent businesses, and ratepayers in the hospitality and leisure sector
- The Funding is based in the rateable value of the property
Rateable Value £0-£15k £15k-51k >£51k
Grant £2.7K £4k £6k
And here’s the link to the factsheet on Statutory Sick Pay
Key points are:
- It is available for SMEs (i.e. employers with fewer than 250 employees).
- Employers will be eligible for the scheme if:
- They are UK-based.
- They employed fewer than 250 employees as of 30 November 2021.
- They had a PAYE payroll system as off 30 November 2021.
- They have already paid their employees’ COVID-related SSP.
- Employers will be able to claim the costs for up to two weeks of SSP per employee that has to take time off because of COVID-19.
- This two-week limit will be reset so an employer will be able to claim up to two weeks per employee regardless of whether they have claimed under the previous scheme for that employee.
- New Restrictions In Scotland
The Scottish First Minister has announced a series of new measures to slow the spread of Omicron
From 05:00 on 26 December, attendance at large events will be limited – to 100 people for indoor standing events, to 200 people for indoor seated events, and to 500 people for all outdoor events seated or standing. Organisers of large professional sporting fixtures will have discretion over whether to admit spectators up to these limits.
From 05:00 on 27 December there will be a requirement for one metre physical distancing between adults in all indoor hospitality and leisure settings, including:
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- pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes and other settings where food and drink is served for consumption on-site
- leisure settings including gyms, theatres, cinemas, bingo and snooker halls and bowling alleys
- museums, galleries and other visitor attractions
- Table service will be required in settings where alcohol is served for consumption on the premises.
Physical distancing will not be required in places of worship or on public transport, however existing mitigations for these settings will continue to apply.
Guidance will be updated to advise against indoor activities where physical distancing cannot be maintained, including non-professional adult contact sports, from 26 December.
A package totalling £375 million, including £175 million of additional funding from the Treasury, will be made available to support sectors affected by the latest protective measures to combat Omicron. An update will be provided on the breakdown and allocation of funding as soon as possible.
https://www.gov.scot/news/further-measures-needed-to-reduce-contacts/
21 December 2021 …
Tourism Alliance update:
You will have seen on the news that the Government has announced a £1bn fund to support Hospitality and Leisure Businesses. This fund comprises:
- £683 million for grants for hospitality and leisure businesses in England comprising one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises for eligible businesses
- £102 million top-up for the additional restrictions grant for local authorities to support other businesses
- £30m for the cultural recovery fund to support theatres and museums
- £154 million for Scotland and Wales via the Barnett funding
- There is also a statutory sick pay rebate scheme which will reimburse employers in the UK with fewer than 250 workers for the cost of paying statutory sick pay for Covid-related absences for up to two weeks.
20 December 2021 …
Tourism Alliance update
As I’m sure you are aware, the Government is considering a range of options for further restrictions this afternoon.
In the expectation of media inquiries that you will get on the impact on businesses, here is a link to the results of the survey so far.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n1Oc-_ks0HqUgG6w5Jj5yKC3cpiKd0MqZdjh6kT4M1Q/viewanalytics
I’m undertaking a bit of analysis on various sectors of the industry at the moment so if you need specific data, please let me know.
Thank you to everyone who has sent out and responded to the Financial Impact survey. I’ve received over 1,000 responses so far which is excellent. The key findings for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector as a whole are:
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- 50% of businesses have seen a fall in revenue of at least 50% in December
- 58% of businesses have experienced at least a 25% cancellation rate this month
- Over 40% have experienced 25%+ cancellations for Jan-Mar
- 47% have booking levels that are down by more than 25% for Jan-Mar
- 24% of businesses have no cash reserves, and another 31% have only 1-2months of reserves
- 11% of businesses say that they are very likely to fail and a further 29% say that they are quite likely to fail
Please keep the responses coming in as this will allow us to build up a better picture of sectoral and regional impacts.
- Scottish Industry Support Announced
The breakdown of the £100m industry support package in Scotland has been announced. It is:
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- £66 million for eligible hospitality businesses
- £20 million for the culture sector
- £8 million for food and drink supply chain businesses including wholesalers
- £3 million for the wedding sector
- £3 million for the worst affected businesses in the tourism sector, including international inbound tour operators
https://www.gov.scot/news/gbp-100-million-support-for-businesses/
- Kickstart Scheme
Not that many businesses in the sector are looking at taking on staff at the moment but it is worth noting that the Kickstart Scheme has now closed for new applicants.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/kickstart-scheme-closure
- Societal Impacts
The latest release of ONS’s ongoing Societal impacts survey have been released. The survey was for the period 1-12th December so are before the latest restrictions and the key findings are:
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- 39% of people say they do not expect life to return to normal for more than one year
- 56% of adults are very or somewhat worried about the impact of the pandemic on their lives
- 32% of people worked from home at some point even before the guidance for everyone to work from home
- Visits to Museums
DCMS has published the visitor figures for the national Museums and galleries for the period July – Sept 2021 when all restrictions had been removed over the summer. Even without restrictions, there were only 5m visits in total over this period which is just 35% of what they were in 2019.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/museums-and-galleries-monthly-visits
- Furlough Scheme Guidance Updated
There have been updated to two sections of the guidance on the Furlough Scheme – dealing with what you need to do if you find an error when filing your tax return and how to fffset an amount you’ve overclaimed.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-grants-back
- New Guidance And Restrictions in Wales
The Welsh Government has issued new guidance for over the Xmas period and new restrictions that will come into place on 27th December
The guidance is:
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- If you’re going out, going Christmas shopping or visiting people – flow before you go. Take a lateral flow test. If it’s positive – don’t go out.
- Meeting outdoors is better than indoors. If you’re meeting indoors make sure it’s well ventilated.
- Space out your socialising – if you’ve got events arranged, please leave at least a day between them.
- Don’t forget about social distancing, wearing a face covering and washing your hands.
After Christmas, on 27 December new legal restrictions will come into force, to help protect against the spread of the omicron variant. These include:
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- A 2m rule on social distancing in shops and offices
- Putting extra measures in place to protect customers and staff, such as one-way systems and physical barriers.
- Nightclubs must close
The Welsh Government has announced up to £60m will be available to support businesses affected by the new restrictions.
https://gov.wales/new-advice-keep-wales-safe-christmas
- R Number And Growth Rate
It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that the R Number and Growth Rate have increase from last week. The new numbers are, respectively, 1.0 to 1.2 and 0% to +2%
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-r-value-and-growth-rate
