Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has said the government is intervening because “the spread of the Omicron variant means businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors are facing huge uncertainty, at a crucial time”.

The bailout package consists of four elements:

• Grants for hospitality and leisure businesses in England, worth up to £6,000 per premise. The Treasury has set aside £683m for these payments, which will be administered through local authorities and will be available in the coming weeks.
  
  

• Further grants for businesses in England, worth £102m, intended to help businesses most in need, and again administered through local authorities.
  
  

• The resumption of the statutory sick pay rebate scheme, which will reimburse employers in the UK with fewer than 250 workers for the cost of paying statutory sick pay for Covid-related absences for up to two weeks.
  
  

• An extra £30m for arts organisations , paid through the culture recovery fund.
  
  

In addition, the Scottish government will receive £150m, the Welsh government £50m and the Northern Ireland executive £25m under the Barnett formula to offset the England-only spending.