Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scottish Government COVID-19 business support management information - 15 January 2021

Background

Since the start of the pandemic last spring, the Scottish Government has made available to businesses almost £3 billion in support to help mitigate the economic impacts of the virus.  The Scottish Government support is in addition to the support provided by the UK Government.  The Scottish Government has sought to support our otherwise strong and viable businesses cope with financial pressures arising from the pandemic, in so doing protecting our business base and jobs as part of preparing for a stronger recovery.

This note provides the most up to date collation of management information on the various Scottish Government COVID-19 business support funds.  It shows that up to October 2020 the Scottish Government made over 383,000 awards in support to businesses amounting to £2.3 billion – see Table 1.  This is based on management information for 22 funds for which data is available. 

Table 1 – management information for selected Scottish Government business support schemes 

	Target	Applications Received	Applications Approved	Number of Awards Disbursed	Total Value of Awards (million)
Non-Domestic Rates Relief (100% Retail, Hospitality and Leisure / Airport & 1.6% Universal)	Business premises	Not relevant - automatically granted	Not relevant -automatically granted	**28,400 for full rates relief, >250,000 premises for 1.6% relief*	£972**
Business Support Fund Grants (Small Business Grant Scheme and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grant Scheme)	Business premises	106,662	91,258	91,258	£1,019.5
Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund	Self-employed individuals	8,006	5,673	5,673	£11.3
Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund	Businesses	3,413	1,894	1,894	£23.6
Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund	Businesses	5,069	1,763	1,763	£121.8
Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund (grants and convertible loan notes)	Businesses	199	90	90	£25.0
Pre-seed Fund (grants and wrap around support)	Businesses (start- ups/spin outs)	85	57	57	£3.0
Sea Fisheries Intervention Fund	Fishing vessels	867	836	836	£8.4
Aquaculture Hardship Fund	Businesses	-	93	93	£0.8
Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund	Businesses	-	132	132	£5.8
Bed and Breakfast Hardship Fund	B&Bs	639	404	404	£1.2
Coronavirus Support Scheme for Self-catering businesses	Self-catering businesses	-	150	150	£1.5***
Coronavirus Liquidity Support for SME Housebuilders (Loans)	Businesses	52	38	38	£18.0
Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary Funds	Freelance or self-employed  individuals	2,831	2,293	2,293	£4.3
Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund	Premises (Venues)	98	68	68	£2.2
Cultural Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund	Businesses	348	233	233	£13.2
Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund	Premises (Venues)	-	79	79	£12.2
Independent Cinemas Recovery and Resilience Fund	Premises (cinemas)	27	27	27	£3.5
Museums and Galleries Scotland Recovery and Resilience Fund	Premises (museums and galleries)	116	90	90	£4.6
Museums and Galleries Scotland Covid-19 Adaption Fund	Premises (museums and galleries)	97	92	92	£0.3
Museums and Galleries Scotland Digital Resilience Fund	Premises (museums and galleries)	77	68	68	£0.1
Museums and Galleries Scotland Urgent Response COVID-19 Fund	Premises (museums and galleries)	29	20	20	£0.6
Total		-	105,358	383,758	£2,252.9

Notes

*Snapshot of relief recipients as at July 2020.

** £972m was allocated to local government settlement for the purposes of meeting relief costs. This does not account for some supermarkets and other businesses who have publicly stated their intention to repay rate relief.  In practical terms, this will require them to make a donation to Scottish Government equivalent to the benefit received through rates relief. Reconciled final figures will not be available until summer 2021.

*** £1m of Scottish Government funds was allocated to the support scheme for self-catering businesses. This was topped up with £0.5m of visit scotland funds to meet demand.

- Data not available.

Management information is still being collated for a further two schemes that operated up to October 2020 – See Annex 1.  Management information for these schemes will be included in further updates as soon as it is available. 

The Scottish Government has also started publishing experimental statistics for business support funds starting from the October 2020 Circuit Breaker measures.  The latest statistics were published on 18 December 2020 for the Strategic Framework Business Fund and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Restrictions Fund  - Temporary Closure Fund and Discretionary Hardship Fund.  The next update to the Strategic Framework Business Fund statistics will be published on Friday 15 January 2021, and final statistics for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Restrictions Fund will be published on Friday 29 January 2021.  

Going forward, the Scottish Government will publish monthly updates of Strategic Framework Business Fund experimental statistics publication.  The scope of the publication will also be broadened to include all funds introduced after the Circuit Breaker in October 2020, once they start operating and as soon as data becomes available. 

Annex 1 – Scottish Government business support funds in place prior to October 2020 with pending management information

Hotel Recovery Programme

Events Industry Support Fund