New £95m voucher scheme for consumers to support local shops in Northern Ireland
![New £95m voucher scheme for consumers to support local shops in Northern Ireland](https://enterprisenation.blob.core.windows.net/enterprisenation/9e5981f0a12deb11a8130022483f581a/belfast%20pub%20EDITORIAL%20ONLY.jpg)
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Posted: Mon 23rd Nov 2020
A new scheme providing consumers with vouchers to spend with local retailers is among new support announced by the Northern Ireland Executive.
The £218m business support package follows last week's announcement that Northern Ireland will enter a new two-week circuit breaker lockdown from this Friday.
The voucher scheme will give households around £200 as a pre-paid card to support traders in their area. Finance minister Conor Murphy said the initiative will launch in early 2021 as it will take around six weeks to set-up.
Other announcements include:
£55m to extend grants to include non-essential retail, leisure, and entertainment businesses now forced to close
£20m to support company directors excluded from other support
£20m to extend the 12 month business rates holiday to the manufacturing sector
£10.6m to support 1,000 wet pubs experiencing additional financial hardship
£5m to top-up the Tourism and Hospitality Scheme
£4.1m for bed and breakfast which previously missed out on business support because they pay domestic rates
£3m to help local businesses grow their online sales
£2.25m to expend the Social Enterprise Support Fund
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