Covid: Pub reopening grant eligibility 'unclear' claim landlords

Landlords have criticised a new grant to help businesses reopen with Covid restrictions as "unclear" amid fears many small pubs were missing out.

Businesses still impacted by Covid rules can apply for a Welsh government grant of up to £25,000.

But some publicans claimed their bid was rejected due to not having enough staff.

The Welsh government said the application for small businesses would open at the end of May.

From Monday pubs, bars and restaurants, as well as nightclubs, have been able to check if they are eligible for a grant of between £2,500 and £25,000, to help cover costs of remaining closed or dealing with restrictions through to the end of June.

Funding is then allocated depending on the size of the business and the type of restrictions they are under.

However, some publicans said they had been told they were not eligible for the grant to help them to deal with the impact of social distancing measures, or being unable to open, due to not having enough employees.

The Welsh government clarified that the Business Wales eligibility checker was only for businesses with turnovers of £85,000, and smaller businesses - those with turnovers of under £85,000 - would be able to apply for the grant through their local council when the process opened at the end of the month.

Janet Costidell logged onto the Business Wales eligibility checker when it went live on Monday and found she could not claim.

Ms Costidell, who runs the Cross Foxes in Nannerch, Flintshire, said: "You go all the way through all the eligibility checks that you're qualified for and then I fell short on 'do you have any payroll staff?'

"Once you put in 'no' the whole process stops and says you need to have payroll staff to qualify for this funding...

"It was a bit of a blow to be honest because as a small pub you've got to restock, we've got to restart completely and there's just been no help and then we've been promised help and it's not actually available to us."

She said they had previously qualified for a non-domestic rate grant, a self-employment grant and received an initial £10,000 at the start of lockdown.

"It would have been nice if it was made clear that this funding wasn't available to smaller businesses with no staff - it wasn't made clear at the time, it was just said that more funding will be offered to hospitality businesses in Wales," she said.

"Smaller businesses that do all the work ourselves work very hard and it just shows that the harder you work, the less you qualify for."

Claire Evans said she was left disappointed after finding she was not eligible because she had claimed a few hundred pounds from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

She and her partner opened The Swan Inn in Rhostyllen, Wrexham in May 2019, and said the past 14 months had been hard.

"I'm devastated," she said. "We've got cellars that we've had to empty down the drain, we've got to restock them all.

"The money's not coming from thin air."

John Fitzpatrick has two pubs in Powys - the Crown and Anchor Inn in Llanidloes and The Mid Wales Inn in Pant-y-dwr and said he qualified for £2,500 for each pub.

He said: "Quite frankly, we were gobsmacked... If we were in England we'd get £8,000 or £9,000.

"The situation we're in is we only employ one full-time member of staff at each pub.

"We were appalled that they based it on PAYE employees - our employees are seasonal workers and we employ seven at one pub and six at the other... they're self-employed."

He said he had so far claimed about £19,000 since the start of the pandemic through different grants and schemes.

A Welsh government spokesman said businesses with a lower turnover would be able to apply through their council when the application process begins at the end of May.

"This latest instalment of financial support for businesses still affected by Covid restrictions is on top of the previous waves of support which have been available since lockdown started in December," he said.

"A hospitality business with 10 employees in Wales will have received up to £52,500 to help with its costs since the start of this year, including this latest phase of support.

"This is in addition to the wage support schemes provided by the UK government."

He said by comparison, in England a hospitality business with 10 employees would have received up to £36,000 from the start of the year.

The Restart Grant scheme in England gives eligible businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym sectors a one-off cash grant of up to £18,000 from their local council.

Indoor eating and drinking has been back on the menu in Wales since Monday as Covid rules in Wales were lowered to alert level two.

It means six people from six different households can visit pubs, cafes and restaurants together, with social distancing and hygiene measures in place.