Legal update: Chancellor reinstates SSP Rebate Scheme and announces support for businesses

Please note: All information correct at time of writing on 21 December 2021.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced measures today to support businesses in the wake of rising coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and concern over the Omicron variant.

Alongside grants for hospitality businesses, the Chancellor announced that the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Rebate Scheme – which ended on 30 September 2021 – will be reintroduced from today. The scheme allows businesses with fewer than 250 employees to reclaim the cost of SSP for COVID-related absences for up to two weeks per employee.

Businesses will be eligible for the scheme from today and claims can be made retrospectively from mid-January. Further guidance will be released shortly, and we’ll send an update out as soon as this is available.

The other measures the Chancellor announced to give additional support to businesses struggling to cope with the Omicron surge included:

• One-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England
• £100 million discretionary funding for local authorities to support other businesses
• £30 million further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund to support cultural organisations in England throughout the winter

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