165 hospitality businesses in Mid Ulster receive payments

Under the scheme, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, bistros, snack bars, nightclubs, pubs, and social clubs are eligible for a one-off grant payment of either £10,000, £15,000 or £20,000 based on their rateable value.

Announcing the amount paid out so far under the Omicron Hospitality Payment, the Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: “My Department has worked at pace to deliver this scheme and I’m delighted that over £1.8m has so far issued to hospitality businesses in the Mid Ulster District Council area.

“These one-off grants will provide vital support to the hospitality industry which suffered a severe loss of trade as a result of Omicron.”

Land & Property Services (LPS) contacted eligible businesses on last month to verify their details.

A further reminder email issued on Monday to urge eligible businesses to verify their details as quickly as possible to enable the Omicron Hospitality Payment to be made.

Minister Murphy added: “I encourage businesses which still haven’t verified their details to do so quickly to enable the Omicron Hospitality Payment to be made.”

It is understood that the payment scheme has now been extended to include hotels.

Land & Property Services contacted Tourism NI certified hotels by email on Monday if they previously received a payment under the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme (LRSS).

he email included a link to an online form, where businesses will be asked to confirm some relevant information and complete a declaration in order to enable payments for the Omicron Hospitality Payment Scheme to issue.

Minister Murphy said: “Hotels are a vital part of our hospitality industry and have undoubtedly been impacted by Omicron facing cancellations over the festive period.

“I was determined to ensure hotels were not left without support and in the absence of a bid for funding for a scheme to help this sector being brought forward, my Department has again taken the lead and obtained Executive approval to include hotels in the Omicron Hospitality Payment scheme.”

The Executive has also agreed to extend the Omicron Hospitality Payment to include certain sports clubs with a licensed bar or restaurant facility.

A maximum one-off £10,000 payment will be available to sports clubs that operate a bar or restaurant, have a liquor license and received less than £50,000 in total from the Department for Communities Sport Sustainability Fund last year.

More than £23.7m has now issued to 1,936 hospitality businesses under the scheme to struggling hospitality businesses across Northern Ireland.

A process has also been put in place to allow new hospitality start-up businesses or those that had not previously applied to Localised Restrictions Support Scheme to apply for the Omicron Hospitality Payment.

Further information on the support available to the hospitality sector can be found at the nibusinessinfo website.