It comes after agents raised fears the one-off business grants also announced by Rishi Sunak would not be enough to help support them over the coming weeks.
Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors were told yesterday they would receive a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 per property.
The amount is calculated according to a business’ rateable value – with £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, 6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000, and £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000.
Many agents were subsequently left fearing the small amounts they were entitled to would not be enough to cover the losses anticipated over the coming weeks, which would usually be travel’s busiest period of the year.
However, the treasury has also made a further £594 million available for local authorities and the devolved administrations to support businesses not eligible for the grants, who will be affected by the lockdown restrictions.
Phil Nuttall, owner of Blackpool-based The Travel Village contacted his local MP in the wake of the lockdown announcement.
His MP acknowledged the £9,000 business grant “doesn’t touch the sides for businesses such as yours” and urged Nuttall – and other travel agents – to get in touch with their local authorities.
“Alongside the grants is a £590 million pot which will be dispersed among local councils who will have to draw up their own schemes for giving this to businesses,” Nuttall’s MP said.
“I will contact the council to put a case together for including travel businesses within this scheme and I’d obviously encourage those in the industry to be proactive in pushing for inclusion within the scheme prior to the criteria being decided.”
Nuttall is now urging fellow agents to contact their local authorities and apply for funds from the £594 million pot which has been made available.
TTG has also created a letter to help agents in this effort (see downloadable template below).
“Never has there been a better opportunity for my travel agent friends to pick up their pens and send this letter to their MPs, heads of council and their constituents’ Facebook pages,” Nuttall said.
“It’s shameful of Grant Shapps to ignore travel agents to the point where we have to lobby local government for a share of the grants Rishi Sunak has made available.”
A treasury spokesperson told TTG: "Businesses should contact their local authorities for more information on how to receive these grants (main grants), and in some cases they will need to provide additional information to their LAs.
"Local authorities will run application schemes for the ARG, including for the £500m top-up, and will have significant discretion when it comes to deciding which businesses receive payments."
Download the template letter here.
Find your local authority here.
