news category All News, Covid, General News created 15 January 2021
More information has come to light around the Government grants available and an update to the Government Guidance for studios.
In the wake of the National Lockdown announced of the 5th January the guidance developed by the MPG in collaboration with Public Health England and the Health and Safety Executive has been updated to Version 14.
We’d also like to draw your attention to the new travel rules that will be law as of 15th Jan, and will be enforced from Monday 18th Jan, in case it affects you or your clients.
COVID-19 testing requirement for people travelling to England will come into force from 0400 on 15 January (further information here)
The scheme will enter into force from 0400 on 15 January but will include a transitional provision so that the requirements do not apply in relation to passengers who arrive before 04:00 on Monday 18 January. Operationally, this means that though the laws still come into force on Friday 15th, the government are implementing a grace period over the weekend so passengers arriving before that time will not be legally required to provide a negative test result. Passengers will therefore only be subject to a fine if they fail to present a negative Covid-19 test from 4am Monday.
If the test result does not include the listed information you may not be able to board and may not be able to travel to England. If you arrive without a test result that includes this information, you will be committing a criminal offence and could receive a £500 fine.
If you take your test in the UK, ahead of a return journey of less than 3 days, you must use a private test provider. You cannot use an NHS Test and Trace test.
The test result must be in either English, French or Spanish. Translations will not be accepted.
The Chancellor this week announced further financial aid for businesses affected by lockdown, including a £594 million fund for businesses outside of hospitality and retail that have been affected by the crisis.
The MPG together with AIRRS have written to the Culture Secretary and the Treasury to ask that studios are specifically included in the guidance that is sent out to local authorities who will administer the grants. (Read the letter here)
While we believe that studio businesses should meet the criteria for both the Local Restrictions Support Grant (for open businesses) here and the additional restrictions grant here, we know that in the past access to local authority grants has been inconsistent, so please do let us know if your businesses are being rejected by local authorities, and what reasons are given, so we can escalate this if necessary.
