UKHospitality has called on the Scottish Government to provide immediate clarification of financial support available to businesses across the five levels of restrictions.
Following today’s confirmation of new regional restrictions, UKH is once again highlighting the risk to hospitality businesses and urging the Scottish Government to confirm how it intends to support the sector.
UKHospitality Executive Director for Scotland, Willie Macleod (pictured) said, “The majority of hospitality businesses are going to find themselves in level 3 and will be badly affected by the restrictions.
'Businesses in level 2 areas will also feel the hit due to the restrictions to all but essential travel. It will also be a blow to accommodation businesses in level 2 as they might have expected some business from level 3 areas and will now not get it.
“The reality is that, for some businesses, these restrictions will be too much. Businesses will be closing their doors and, for some, they will remain closed permanently with the associated job losses.
Macleod continued, “It is imperative that the Scottish Government provides details of easily accessible financial support available for the duration of the restriction and, in all likelihood, beyond that. We need confirmation of the level of support that will be offered to businesses in each level and details of how the Job Support Scheme, both Open and Closed, will apply across the levels.
“Once again, it is disappointing that businesses have only 3 days’ notice to prepare for the changes. As we have said repeatedly, it is vital that businesses have as much time as possible to prepare for measures that will have a huge impact.'
Macleod finished, 'We need to give venues the best possible chance of staying open. Each closure has a real risk of being a permanent one, with the job losses that this will inevitably bring.”