Ministers told firms in stricken Scottish events industry face 'ruin' amid claims funding deal is not enough

Details of a £6 million fund to help the events industry recover from the coronavirus pandemic were unveiled on Monday, opening up the opportunity for firms and self-employed people in the supply chain to apply for one-off grants of £10,000.

The Events Industry Support Fund is part of a £10m package of support for the sector, destined to be among the last to fully reopen as social distancing measures are eased, first announced by Scottish Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop in July. That £10m stemmed from £97m of funding for the arts, culture, and heritage industries, which was Scotland’s share of a £1.57 billion package announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak for the UK as a whole.

However, the £6m events fund has been condemned by Perth-based businesswoman Tricia Fox, managing director of marketing agency Volpa, who said the sums are not enough and the grants unfairly exclude businesses that have already received government funding to help them through the crisis.

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In an open letter to Ms Hyslop, Ms Fox said: “I have to say that when the fund was announced, the value of it (£10m) in the context of a £6bn industry had me greatly concerned that it was barely going to scratch the surface of the widespread decimation that the events industry has seen since the start of the pandemic. The latest information has only confirmed my fears.That only 600 businesses in the supply chain will be assisted by this new fund is nothing short of a disgrace. It is the exclusions towards applying to this fund that have concerned me even more.”

Ms Fox notes in the letter that Volpa has been “badly hit by the wholesale cancellation” of large-scale events, with the “sustained nature of this downturn” causing her to make two people redundant this month. One member of staff is taking an unpaid sabbatical for eight months, while the remainder of her team will move to a four-day week from October 1, she writes, “in order to avoid (hopefully) making anyone else redundant.”

“In short, we can’t rule that out either,” she added. Prior to its cancellation by the pandemic, Ms Fox said Volpa worked on promoting an event that drives 80,000 people to Perthshire, contributing £7.6m in economic value to the region. Another it works on brings around 30,000 visitors to the area, with an economic impact of £4.6m, she added.

However, despite losing “significant revenue” Ms Fox said her firm is ineligible to apply for a £10,000 grant from the Events Industry Support Fund. Volpa received a Small Business Support Grants totalling £17,500 to help cover its costs after experiencing a downturn in revenue following the cancellation of a “mass gathering” in early March. But the rules for the new events grants state firms are no eligible if they have already received funding from other Scottish Government coronavirus schemes.

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Ms Fox said Volpa has seen £30,000 wiped off its average monthly income in each of the last five months.

“It astounds me that our Government is presiding over a recovery programme that is seeing so many excellent, market leading companies facing complete ruination because the support they need to get through this is simply not there,” Ms Fox said: “It seems to me that the Government’s strategy is, from what I can gather, “give each business £10k and see how many can survive”.

“It’s a spray and pray approach that strikes me as lacking in genuine understanding of how markets and economies actually work. If you think £10,000 will cover our wage bills and overheads for months, then you are greatly deluded.”

Meanwhile, Donald MacLeod, owner of leading Glasgow music venues The Garage and The Cathouse, said while £10,000 would provide welcome relief for some self-traders, grants of that magnitude would be a “drop in the ocean” for many firms.

He expressed concern that the distribution of the grants could fall foul of exploitation, as has happened in some cases with the furlough scheme, without the right “checks and balances” in place. And he questioned the status of the £97m funding package for the arts, culture, and heritage industries. It emerged yesterday in correspondence between the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland that £74.5m of the funding has still to be allocated.

Mr MacLeod said: “The problem that seems to be coming through is, who distributes the money? None of them want to touch it because they don’t have the staff or resources, whether it is Creative Scotland or Scottish Enterprise. These sums of money are huge, and [it is] work intensive, depending on how many boxes you have got to tick to get it.”

He revealed a demonstration was being planned by the music industry against the Scottish Government owing to its “lack of support”. The £97m support package allocated just £2.2m to grassroots music venues.

“They’ve closed down ranks, and that’s appalling,” he said.

Andrew McRae, FSB’s Scotland policy chair, said: “Over the course of this crisis, governments north and south of the border have rolled out various support schemes for business. They’ve often been imperfect and required adjustment, but many smaller firms have been grateful for the aid. However, there’s also been many operators who’ve lost out any help at all – and we’ve been making the case to decision-makers to close gaps and loopholes. That’s why additional help for the events industry looks like a sensible step, as many freelancers that work in the sector lost out on help tied to business property.

“It looks likely that ongoing trading restrictions are going to be tougher on some sectors than others. Put simply, some firms look like they’ll be able to return to close to normal, while others won’t be able to operate at all in the foreseeable. There’s an argument therefore that some sectors and businesses should be able to apply for multiple rounds of financial help.”