Financial support for businesses including SSP for COVID absences
A run down on the financial support announced by the Chancellor – Emma Fay HR Department Wilmslow
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has today announced a package of financial support for businesses impacted by Omicron.
One-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England, plus more than £100 million discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses that are most in need.
The Government will cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-related absences for SMEs across the UK.
£30 million funding through the Culture Recovery Fund enabling cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter to March 2022.
Around £80 million has been allocated for the Scottish Government and £50 million for the Welsh Government in addition to financial support announced for the devolved administrations earlier in the week.
Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS)
The reintroduction of the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS) means that small and medium sized employers (with less than 250 employees) can be reimbursed statutory sick pay for COVID-related absences, for up to 2 weeks per employee.
Eligible employers must be UK based, employ fewer than 250 employees as of 30 November 2021, have a PAYE payroll system as of 30 November 2021 and have already paid their employees’ COVID related SSP.
Claims can be made from mid-January onwards and can be made retrospectively for COVID-related sickness absences starting from December 21st 2021.
Employers must keep the following records for 3 years after the date they receive the payment for their claim:
Dates the employee was off sick
Which of those dates were qualifying days
Reason they said they were off work due to COVID19
Employee’s National Insurance number
Further guidance is due to be published on the GOV website.
If you have questions about sick pay or people management in your business during the pandemic, contact your local HR Dept office.
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