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You are here: Support & Resources > Useful Information > Covid-19 Resources
COVID-19 – Resources for Businesses
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a rapidly changing situation with information changing on a daily basis.
In an effort to signpost information for our members and other businesses working in the tourism and hospitality industry, on this page you'll find helpful links to the most up to date information from the UK Government and key partners.
Information about the latest in grants for the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector is below.
We anticipate that this information will be updated frequently so please check back regularly.
Last updated: 15 March 2022
Jump to:
Plan for living with COVID-19 | NHS Test and Trace Update | Removal of Restrictions | Business and Social Impact Survey | Government Guidance | Working Safely During Coronavirus | Removal of Travel Restrictions and Guidance | Government support for Businesses | Other Government Updates | Bristol City Council | Bath and North East Somerset Council | Support and advice from VisitBritain | West of England Combined Authority | Wellbeing in the Workplace | Local Information for Businesses | Public Health Information | Get in touch
Plan for living with COVID-19
21 February 2022
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has outlined the UK Government’s plan for living with COVID-19.
The Prime Minister said that the UK Government will continue to work closely with the Devolved Administrations, but the ongoing approach for England will be around four principles, including:
- The removal of all domestic restrictions in law.
From Thursday, 24 February:
- The legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test will end. Self-isolation support payments will also end. COVID provisions for Statutory Sick Pay will still be able to be claimed for a further month.
- Routine contact tracing will end. Fully vaccinated close contacts and those under 18 will no longer be asked to test daily for seven days.
- The legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate will be removed.
- Until 1 April, people who test positive will still be advised to stay at home. After April 1 people with Covid-19 symptoms will be advised to exercise personal responsibility.
From 1 April:
- Free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public will end.
- The UK Government will no longer recommend the use of voluntary COVID19-status certification, although the NHS app will continue to allow people to indicate their vaccination status for international travel.
- Continuing to protect the most vulnerable with targeted vaccines and treatments.
- Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities such as mass vaccination and testing in an emergency
- Securing innovations and opportunities from the COVID-19 response, including investment in life sciences.
A copy of the full plan is available here.
NHS Test and Trace Update
From 24 February 2022, most of the remaining COVID-19 guidance in England will end. This means that you are no longer required to:
- Ask every customer or visitor aged 16 or over to ‘check in’ by scanning the NHS COVID-19 QR code poster using the NHS COVID-19 app, or by providing their name and telephone number.
- Keep a record of all staff working on your premises, including their shift times and dates, and contact details.
- Keep records of customers, visitors, and staff for 21 days to support NHS Test and Trace.
As people no longer need to check in, please remove any NHS COVID-19 QR code posters or any systems that you use to collect contact details (for this purpose) at your venue.
What to do with your venue data
If you have records of customers, visitors, and staff that you have collected to support NHS Test and Trace, please delete this data. You must delete this data in a way that does not risk unintended access. For example, permanently deleting electronic files and shredding paper documents. It is important you do this to meet your General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) obligations. Find out more about maintaining records for contact tracing purposes.
Records that you make and keep for other business purposes do not need deleting.
What NHS Test and Trace will do with venue data
Once the venue alerts system is taken down, your data associated with your NHS COVID-19 QR code poster will be deleted.
The Venue Check-in NHS QR Code Generator website holds the details entered for your venue. This includes relevant contact details and information about who registered the venue. This data will be held for an initial six-month period prior to review, where not already deleted. This review period is in place to ensure that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), can fulfil their public health obligations, ensuring records are available for accountability and organisational need. At the end of this review period, any personal data will be deleted, or records anonymised. If there is a future obligation to retain personal data beyond eight years, they will inform you and update their privacy notice.
If you have downloaded an NHS COVID-19 QR code poster, you will receive this information via the email address used to sign up to the Venue Check-in QR Code Generator website.
Removal of Restrictions
- The UK Government is no longer asking people to work from home if they can. People should now talk to their employers to agree arrangements to return to the office.
- There is no longer a legal requirement to wear a face covering. The government suggests that people continue to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces where they may come into contact with other people they do not normally meet.
- Venues and events will no longer be required by law to check visitors’ NHS COVID Pass.
- The legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test has ended. Self-isolation support payments will also end. COVID provisions for Statutory Sick Pay will still be able to be claimed for a further month.
- Routine contact tracing will end. Fully vaccinated close contacts and those under 18 will no longer be asked to test daily for seven days.
- From 4am 18 March no-one entering UK will need to take tests or complete a passenger locator form.
- The legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate will be removed.
- Until 1 April, people who test positive will still be advised to stay at home. After April 1 people with Covid-19 symptoms will be advised to exercise personal responsibility.
Further information on the changes are available on this page - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do
Business and Social Impact Survey
Business Impact Survey
ONS has published the results of their latest business impact survey which covers the period from 29th December to 9th January. It shows that while 76.7% of all businesses are fully trading at the moment, accommodation and food services is the sector most impacted by omicron with only 57.6% of businesses trading fully. This is followed by transportation with only 66.3% of businesses trading fully.
The survey also indicates that 60% of businesses in the accommodation and food sector experienced a decrease in revenue over this period compared to just 32% across all industries. This is followed by the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector in which 40% of businesses reported a decline in venue.
In the survey 11% of businesses reported that they had no cash reserves, while 7% reported low or no confidence they would survive the next three months. This compares to the 26% of businesses having no cash reserves and 40.8% of businesses having low or no confidence in their survival in the Financial Impact survey that we completed this week.
Social Impact Survey
ONS has also released another wave of its social impact survey. Some of the key points for the tourism industry are:
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UK daily flights were 68% of the level seen in the equivalent week of 2020 in the first week of January. The is about 2.5 times the number of daily flights in 2021 which is a step in the right direction.
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The seven-day average estimate of UK seated diners fell by 48 percentage points in the week to 10 January 2022, to 88% of the level in the equivalent week of 2020
Government Guidance
Please check this regularly for up to date guidance and information on the available support.
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Hotels and other guest accommodation guidance from Bath & North East Somerset Council
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Drivers, operators and owners of taxis or private hire vehicles
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Guidance for households with confirmed or possible coronavirus infection
Working Safely During Coronavirus
2 February 2022
To support businesses through this next phase, the ‘Working Safely’ guidance will continue to provide advice on sensible precautions employers can take to manage risk and support their staff and customers. With the Removal of restrictions, all the Primary Guidance documents for businesses have been updated accordingly. The links for them are:
Accommodation - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-covid-19/hotels-and-guest-accommodation
Events - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-covid-19/events-and-attractions
Restaurants - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-covid-19/restaurants-pubs-bars-nightclubs-and-takeaway-services
Guidance if You Cannot Work.
The guidance for people who are employed but cannot work due to coronavirus has been updated to reflect the fact that shielding in England, Scotland and Wales has stopped and the time limit for making a backdated claim has passed. Read more here.
Removal of Travel Restrictions
The Government has announced of the relaxation of travel restriction on people arriving into England.
From 18 March
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From 4am 18 March no-one entering UK will need to take tests or complete a passenger locator form.
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12 to 15-year-olds in England will be able to prove their vaccination status via the digital NHS pass for international outbound travel.
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People will continue to be able to access their vaccine and recovery records through the NHS COVID Pass to use when travelling overseas.
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People under the age of 18 will be treated as being fully vaccinated.
The guidance on this has not yet been published and to follow.
Removal of Pre-Departure Testing
The Prime Minister has announced that from 4am on Friday 7 January 2022, the requirement for pre-departure testing for people travelling overseas from England will be scrapped in order to help facilitate overseas travel. He also announced that the requirement to self-isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR will also be removed for those arriving into England and will be replaced with the need to undertake a lateral flow test no later than the end of Day 2. If this test is positive, the person will then need to have a PCR test in order to identify any new variants entering the country.
Read the Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons - 5 January 2022
Confirmatory PCR Tests To Be Temporarily Suspended
The UK Health Security Agency has announced that, from 9 January 2022, it is suspending the requirement for people who test positive using a lateral flow test to then take a confirmatory PCR test. Anyone who receives a positive lateral flow test result should still report their result on GOV.UK and must self-isolate immediately. After reporting a positive LFD test result, they will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace so that their contacts can be traced.
There is, however, an exception to this revised approach that employers should be aware of when communicating this change to staff. That is:
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people who are eligible for the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment (TTSP) will still be asked to take a confirmatory PCR if they receive a positive LFD result, to enable them to access financial support.
Please see the latest guidance on travel to England from another country for the full details.
Government Business Support
Find out more about the full range of business support measures available to UK businesses and employees.
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Test And Trace Payment Scheme - The guidance on the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment for eligible staff and the self-employed has been updated to take into account changes to self-isolation exemptions (21 December 2021)
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Kickstart Scheme - funding to create new job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit
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New Recovery Loan Scheme for UK businesses from 6 April to 31 December 2021 enables businesses of any size to access loans and other funding up to £10 million.
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Support of exisiting economic support - here is a comprehensive summary of the support on offer
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VAT Deferral Payment Scheme - spreads repayment of VAT deferral across eleven payments.
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Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant applications; Bath & North East Somerset Council Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant applications | Bristol City Council Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant applications | South Gloucestershire Council Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant applications
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Discretionary Business Grants/Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG)
UK Live Events Reinsurance Scheme
On 5 August, the government announced that it is partnering with insurers to offer a cost indemnification insurance scheme which will make cover available against the cancellation, postponement, relocation or abandonment of events due to new UK Civil Authority restrictions in response to COVID-19. The Scheme covers live events that are physically located in the UK and is currently due to end on 30 September 2022.
The two eligibility criteria for “Covered Events” are:
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Advanced notice is given to members of the public and/or which is generally available to members of the public to attend or participate in
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Which is either advertised to, or attended by or participated in by, professionals of the same industry or related industries (whether or not advertised to or attended by members of the public) and which will be for a bona fide business purpose; and/or will support or foster growth in local economies and/or supply chains.
This means that alongside public events, private corporate business events, association conferences and trade fairs are eligible. Events such as office parties, weddings or social events are not included.
Other Government Updates
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Visa Concessions Extended - The Home Office has extended the concession to apply for a visa to come to the UK online rather than in person until 31 March 2022. In some cases they will be able to decide applications without seeing certain specified documents if they cannot be presented due to coronavirus, until 31 March 2022.
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Reporting Taxable Grants - HMRC has produced a new video for businesses on how they should report any taxable grants that they have received through the pandemic on their Company Tax Return. Watch video
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Accommodation businesses can help keep guests safe by making sure they are aware of your covid safety measures, your policy for covid cases or symptoms in your facility, and of guests legal obligation to self-isolate if they have symptoms, a positive test or are told to self-isolate by NHS test and trace. If guests are unable to self-isolate in your facility ensure they can make arrangements to travel home. Find further guidance for accommodation here.
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Hardship Arrangements For Those Unable To Pay For Quarantine And Testing - The Government has published new guidance for people travelling to the UK from Red List countries who are not able to pay for Quarantine and testing requirements.
Bristol City Council
Find out information from local government, including grants and funds, volunteer opportunities and FAQs.
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Restart Grant - up to £6,000 for non-essential retail businesses and up to £18,000 for hospitality, accommodation, leisure and personal care. Businesses who have received a grant payment since November, and are eligible for the Restart Grant, will automatically receive payment and do not need to apply again.
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Test and Trace Support Payments - grants of £500 are available to people in low paid employment or people who are unable to work from home and will lose income
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Information for businesses - details of the package of measures announced by government to support businesses through this period of disruption
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Business rate discount - 100% business rates relief extended until 30 June 2021, followed by 66% from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022
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Sign up to receive the council’s regular email - Bristol City Council has launched a regular email for businesses to help them through this uncertain time and beyond
Bath and North East Somerset Council
Find out information from local government, including grants and funds, volunteer opportunities and FAQs.
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Restart Grant - grants of £6,000 to £18,000 are available to help non-essential retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses to open safely. Businesses who have received a grant payment since November, and are eligible for the Restart Grant, will automatically receive payment and do not need to apply again.
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Discretionary Schemes - discretionary grants help businesses that are open, but have been severely impacted due to national restrictions
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Business rate discount - 100% business rates relief extended until 30 June 2021, followed by 66% from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022
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Information for Businesses – guidance from Bath and North East Somerset Council
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Covid-19 guidance for community organisations that run support groups
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Sign up to get email updates from Invest in Bath – a regular email supporting businesses through COVID-19 in Bath and North East Somerset
Support and advice from VisitBritain / VisitEngland
Find specific information for tourism, hospitality and event businesses through VisitBritain and VisitEngland.
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Business advice hub - helping your tourism business to grow, with practical tips, legal obligations and local support
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Latest information on COVID-19 - latest tourism-related news and information for UK tourism businesses on the outbreak of COVID-19
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We're Good To Go - the official UK mark to signal adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. Businesses already registered are automatically eligible for the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) international ‘Safe Travels’ stamp.
Support and advice from West of England Combined Authority
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West of England Growth Hub - hub to support small and medium-sized enterprises access Government support, as well as providing other help and guidance
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Green Business Grants - West of England Green Business Grants support small to medium sized businesses and enterprises to improve their energy efficiency
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Cultural and Creative Business Support Programme - Grants and support available for creative freelancers and creative businesses to fund projects, employ freelance creatives, engage local communities and advance diversity and inclusion.
Wellbeing in the Workplace
Many people are struggling not only with the restrictions but also the added stress of working from home whilst finding a work-life balance. However, there are many mental health support tools available, and we want to make sure as many people as possible are using these resources.
Business Toolkits
Individual Mental Health Support
Local Information for Businesses
More local information for businesses including business information and advice, travel information and news.
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Business West - trading through coronavirus hub page
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Travelwest - latest information and advice on travel around the West of England
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Business in the Community - has launched the National Business Response Network to identify needs across the UK and match them to the right business support
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Bath BID - COVID-19 information and news page for Bath BID levy payers and stakeholders
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Bristol City Centre BID - COVID-19 information and news page for Bristol BID levy payers and stakeholders
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24 Hour Bristol - The 24 Hour Bristol Commission is the voice of Bristol’s 24 hour economy and represents the night-time, high street and leisure industries
Links to other local authority information:
Public Health Information
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NHS advice - find out how to protect yourself from the virus on the NHS website.
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Public Health England - coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance
Get in touch
Our team are currently still working from home, but we're still here to support you in any way we can. Please continue to get in touch via email or social media - we'd love to hear from you. If you have any specific questions about your membership or have any other business concerns, please get in touch with Dan Mills at dan.mills@visitwest.co.uk
Please follow us on LinkedIn, where we will be sharing regular updates.
Older updates
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Global Travel Taskforce recommendation report - report recognises the importance of international travel to the UK
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