Latest News
Cultural Recovery Fund and Freelancer Fund Additional Funding Announcement
CULTURAL RECOVERY FUND
Following high demand for funding support across the arts and cultural sectors a further £10.7 million will be made available to support organisations and individuals during the pandemic, taking the total funding package available through the Cultural Recovery Fund to £63.7 million.This is in addition to an £18 million portfolio package provided in April, which was delivered by Welsh Government, Arts Council of Wales, Creative Wales and Sport Wales.The announcement comes as many organisations and individuals are already benefiting from the Cultural Recovery Fund. Welsh Government Press Release
FREELANCER FUND – 3rd Phase open 10am on Monday 23 November
A third phase of the successful Freelancer Fund which will see a further £3.5 million being made available nationwide across all local authority areas from 10am on Monday 23 November to freelancers in the creative sector.
Eligibility Checker
Lockdown Business Fund - NOW CLOSED
ERF Phase 3 Business Development Grant
Due to high demand the ERF Business Development Grant is suspended while the applications that were received are being processed. Please monitor the Business Wales Covid 19 Support for Business website and social media channels for other support and updates.
Eligibility Checker
Childcare Provider Grant
Registered (CIW) childcare providers can apply for up to £5,000. Now open to applications until the fund is fully committed or 31 October 2020, whichever is earlier.
Childcare Providers Grant
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
Check if you can claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, capped at £6,570.
This final taxable grant is worth 70% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total. If you’re eligible and your business has been adversely affected on or after 14 July 2020, you must make your claim on or before 19 October 2020.
HMRC will work out your eligibility for the SEISS second grant in the same way as the first SEISS grant. You can make a claim for the second SEISS grant if you’re eligible, even if you did not make a claim for the first SEISS grant.
You should contact HMRC if you receive any suspicious texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC as this may be a scam.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
Coronavirus Regulations in Wales
Job Retention Scheme
The government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will remain open until the end of October.
Furlough Scheme Information
Job Retention Bonus announced
The scheme is designed to continue to support jobs through the UK’s economic recovery from Coronavirus by encouraging and helping employers to retain as many employees who’ve been on furlough as possible.
Job Retention Bonus
Skills and Jobs Fund
The Welsh Government pledges to support everyone to find work, education or training or help to start their own business as it launches a £40m skills and jobs fund.
The £40m package will provide:
- more than £20m to incentivise employers to recruit and retain 5,000 apprentices, increase the capacity of traineeship programmes and support more graduates to access work experience, work tasters and paid work placements.
- almost £9m to help workers access retraining and find new employment, including in areas of skills demand, through ReACT and the Union Learning Fund. This includes the national roll-out of the personal learning accounts programme so an additional 2,000 people can learn new skills and gain new qualifications.
- funding for traineeships, Working Wales and Communities for Work Plus will be increased to help match people to job opportunities and promote self-employment and new ways of working, as well as funding to support employer-led training through the Flexible Skills programme.
- there will be support for a new Barriers Fund, offering up to £2,000 to support people who may not have previously considered self-employment, in particular women, young people, people from BAME communities and disabled people.
Funding Support and Training
Business Grants
Up to date figures for the Business Grants in the Vale of Glamorgan. In line with Welsh Government guidance the business support scheme for eligible rateable properties has now closed.
The latest total of 2,056 grant payments have been made worth a total of £25,652,000.
Cultural Art and Heritage
U.K Government announce a £1.57 billion investment support package to protect Britain’s world-class cultural, arts and heritage institutions.
Cultural Art and Heritage Support
Town Centre Businesses and Premises
For advice and information on working in or running shops during the COVID-19 pandemic, please contact:
Retailers Coronavirus Guidance
Fast Start Competition
On the 20 May 2020 UK government announced it is doubling investment in the Fast Start Competition with an additional £20 million. Innovative businesses and start-ups are set to benefit from a £40 million UK government investment to drive forward new technological advances. Among the successful projects to receive the funding to date is a virtual-reality surgical training simulator and an online farmers’ market platform.
Boost for cutting edge start-ups
Food Innovation Wales, backed by Welsh Government, is based at three food centres across Wales. The team of industry experts can support manufacturers of all sizes to navigate their way through a range of complex technical and commercial issues.
Food Innovation Toolkit
Bounce Back Loans Scheme
Major boost for Welsh SME's as New Bounce Back Loans Scheme opened for applications.