The organisation representing small businesses in Wales has welcomed the package of help which has been made available over the new lockdown period.

Ben Francis, FSB Wales Policy Chair, said:“Whilst it is disheartening that coronavirus cases have increased to a point at which a fire breaker lockdown in required, we welcome the fact that Welsh Government have listened to the calls FSB Wales made over the weekend for a package of funding to support businesses through this lockdown.

“To give confidence to businesses at such a difficult time, we urge UK Government to respond immediately to Welsh Government’s proposal for Welsh businesses to take early advantage of the Job Support Scheme. This is a common sense suggestion by Welsh Government that could have huge practical benefit for many businesses across the country. Businesses will need to be able to draw this support down to give their workers peace of mind and help pay their wage bills.

“It is important that self-employed and sole traders are able to access support over this period. Many, such as those within the trades professions or driving instructors for instance, will be heavily impact by the shutdown restrictions and so appropriate support needs to be available.

“Detailed guidance will need to be made available as a priority to allow businesses to plan. Businesses need to know exactly who must close, and what restrictions might be imposed upon those that are able to remain open. We will be engaging with Welsh Government in the coming hours and days to ensure that businesses have all of the information that they need.

“Smaller businesses across Wales have worked hard to create safe workplaces and so where businesses remain open and for those roles where working from home is not possible, we would like to see encouragement by Welsh Government of employees to attend those workplaces to ensure that those businesses and our economy do not suffer unnecessarily.

“We are pleased to see that funding will be available next week – the process surrounding applying for and receiving the funding should be light-touch for businesses and clearly communicated by Welsh Government and local authorities. Businesses also urgently need to know what information that they need to provide in order to receive the funding. Many business owners and their staff have been through a very anxious weekend waiting on the First Minister’s announcement, and there is no need for this uncertainty and anxiety to be further exacerbated by complicating the means of getting this funding where it will make a difference – into those businesses.

“We were pleased to see the First Minister signal his intention to start planning the process of easing out of lockdown as early as possible, we would urge him to sit down with business organisations as soon as possible to help plan this transition effectively. We only have one opportunity to ease out of this lockdown, and so it must be done right, and in a way that helps firms safely take advantage of the opportunity to trade in the run up to Christmas. This is especially important given that losing out on 2 weeks of trade at this time of year will be incredibly damaging to some firms.

“Finally, we welcome the assurance that this will end on 9th November. We asked for that clarity and we are pleased that the First Minister has provided it. The next steps must now be to ensure that funding and guidance can be accessed by businesses in the shortest possible amount of time, as we all continue to work together to support firms through this incredibly difficult time and keep Wales safe from coronavirus.”