Over 3,200 Northern Ireland businesses will be eligible for a one-off grant payment of either £10,000, £15,000 or £20,000 based on their rateable value following the launch of the Omicron Hospitality Payment, a £40 million support package for businesses in the hospitality sector.

Eligible businesses will include; restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, bistros, snack bars, nightclubs, pubs, social clubs and private members clubs.

The Department of Finance's Land and Property Services has begun contacting hospitality businesses to confirm their details to enable the Omicron Hospitality Payment to be made.

Businesses are being contacted by email if they previously received a payment under the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme (LRSS). The email will include a link to an online form, where businesses will be asked to confirm some relevant information and complete a declaration in order to enable payments for the Omicron Hospitality Payment Scheme to issue. These businesses should check their mailbox for this email, including Junk Mail folders.

If there has been no change in a business’s circumstances, the payment should be with the business within 7 to 10 working days of their application, depending on how long the payment takes to clear through the banking system. If circumstances have changed, Land and Property Services will need to carry out some further validation checks and gather some additional information, which will require additional time to process.

A process has been put in place to allow new hospitality start-up businesses or those that had not previously applied to LRSS to apply for the Omicron Hospitality Payment. These businesses can apply by downloading an application form from the nibusinessinfo website. This process and the necessary supporting documentation required can be found on the nibusinessinfo website here.

Finance Minister, Conor Murphy said: “Once again Land and Property Services, within my Department has stepped up to ensure support is provided to businesses. These one-off grants between £10,000 and £20,000 will provide much needed support to industry. The Omicron Hospitality Payment builds on the almost £1 billion support my department has provided to businesses here through rates relief and Covid grants."