Payroll Co-Funding Scheme To End

Thursday, 19 August 2021 12:05

The States of Guernsey is putting a stop to its financial support to help businesses weather the pandemic at the end of September.

The Policy and Resources Committee says payroll co-funding is ending because travel outside of the Bailiwick is increasing, and as islanders learn to "live responsibly with COVID-19".

The end of September date has been chosen because it usually signals the end of the tourism season in Guernsey.

Taxi businesses are some of those that will see their financial support stop at the end of next month. Officials say they will start their review of the private hire industry as soon as possible because of this.

Treasury lead for P&R Deputy Mark Helyar says the decision to end the scheme has been in the works for a while.

"The Payroll Co-Funding Scheme was never going to continue indefinitely. It was always the intention that this taxpayer-funded support would cease when trading conditions allowed businesses to operate at more reasonable levels, which is what we are starting to see.

Looking back to the original intentions of these measures, the aim was to support viable businesses who were impacted by COVID-19, and that is what we have done, in some cases for the past 19 months. Now is the right time to close this scheme as we all learn to live responsibly with COVID-19. We will continue to monitor the situation carefully and listen to industry feedback wherever conditions become challenging."

The Visitor Accommodation Scheme and the Visitor Attraction Scheme will continue until the end of March next year.