Support Boarding Kennels and Catteries

We ask that Boarding Kennels and Catteries are recognized as directly and severely suffering from the impact of the Covid travel restrictions and be given access to support in the same way as the travel and hospitality industries.

The British are a nation of pet lovers. When absent from home to travel, for work, health reasons or to care for a relative, pet owners can rely on Boarding Kennels and Catteries to look after their pets. Due to Covid-related travel restrictions, Kennels and Catteries are facing huge losses, potential closure and even bankruptcy. Without help, these businesses will simply disappear, impacting the wider tourism industry and resulting in animals being abandoned to shelters and charities.

However, we have no plans to amend the support package offered to the Travel and Tourism Industry to include Boarding Kennels and Catteries because there is already a wide range of support that these businesses can access.

These include loans, small business grants through local authorities, mortgage holidays and VAT deferral. Given the new national restrictions, we have extended the coronavirus job retention scheme to support the wage costs of employers until end of April 2021.

Government has also increased the overall level of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grant to 80% of trading profits covering November to January for all parts of the UK.

We have extended the Bounce Back Loan Scheme application deadline to the end of March 2021, to further support eligible firms who need it during this ongoing period of difficulty.

Where businesses are required by law to close in order to protect the NHS and save lives they are eligible for grants of up to £1,500 per 14 day period of closure. This was also applicable prior to the latest restrictions in tiered areas where business closures were required by law.

The Chancellor announced 4th January that closed businesses would be eligible for a further one-off payment of up to £9,000.

A further £500m in discretionary funding for local authorities is also being made available. This is in addition to £1.1bn in discretionary funding that has also been allocated to local authorities to support businesses via the Additional Restrictions Grant.

We would always encourage businesses that have not been able to access support, or who are unsure about what support is available, to contact their nearest Business Growth Hub for advice. Government has established a network of 38 of these hubs, one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area in England. Businesses of all sizes are able to access free, tailored guidance from expert advisers who make up the Hub teams. All contact details are online www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts/.