Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether companies in the (a) events and exhibitions sectors and (b) sports stadia are eligible to access the Job Support Scheme for their employees due to restrictions on those sectors reopening during the covid-19 outbreak; and when his Department plans to publish further sector-specific guidance for the application of the Job Support Scheme to those sectors.

On 9 October the Chancellor announced a further expansion to the package of financial support available to businesses across the UK. This includes an expansion of the Job Support Scheme (JSS) to cover 61.67% of wages for open businesses, an increase to self-employed grants, additional business grants, and an extension of the VAT reduction to 5%. This is an addition to the measures outlined on 24 September, which is intended to cover businesses closed by national and local restrictions. Individual businesses will need to evaluate the applicability of these schemes based on their own financial circumstance.

The Treasury has published a JSS policy paper (which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-job-support-scheme/the-job-support-scheme) , giving further details on eligibility criteria, conditions and timescales for making claims under the JSS Open and the JSS Closed. Further guidance will be published shortly.