Admiral cancels rent for licensees for 5 weeks

In a letter to its operators from the pubco’s chief executive officer Chris Jowsey, Admiral also said it was “determined to support” licensees through the Covid-19 outbreak period and it looked forward to the pubs reopening as soon as the virus is under control.

It added how it was focusing on helping and advising on how pubs can maintain an income, and that it had seen a number of pubs set up food and drink delivery offers, as well as offering communities support services.

Business measures

The letter also outlined the measures announced by the Government in the past few days, including employment support, VAT payments deferral, cash grants and business rates holiday, as well as Sky and BT Sports suspending charges for pubs.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced the measures for businesses, aimed to ease struggling amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a press conference last week (Friday 20 March), Sunak said: “The first part of our plan is to protect people’s jobs. We are setting up a new coronavirus job retention scheme. Any employer in the country, small or large, charitable or non-profit, will be eligible for the scheme.

“Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of people who are not working but are furloughed and kept on pay roll rather than being laid off.”

Government grants

He added: “Government grants will cover 80% of the salary of retained workers up to a total of £2,500 a month, that’s just above the median income. Of course, employers can top up salaries further if they choose to.”

To free up more cash flow, the Chancellor also said the next quarter of VAT payments will be postponed.