Covid hardship and an update on the battle for fair funding

Groomers’ Funding Battle Continues

Groomer and support group organiser Sarah Colquitt of The Groomers Kennel (TGK) & Puss ‘N’ Pooch Salon, shares an update on the battle for funding as groomers’ plights still remains largely unheard by the masses:

The more members we gather, the more we can try to help and by supporting each other and sharing our individual battles with different Councils our knowledge expands which gives us more peoplepower to fight as a collective. Groomers are not alone, a unity has now formed, in an industry where there was little of it before.

When TGK launched on the 11th of January 2021 our fight was regarding the Local Restrictions Support Grant – LRSG (CLOSED) Grant - but this was only for salons with rateable premises and as we wanted to include all groomers, we soon learned more about the ARG Additional Restrictions/ Discretionary Grant to assist all the home-based and mobile groomers too.

At the time of writing the last article we had managed to convince 94 Councils into awarding the LRSG Grant to groomers and we were going strong, whilst also advising on how to handle the process for the ARG’s and what to expect Councils to request during the application.

What soon became clear is this varies greatly similarly to the LRSG. Homebased and mobile groomers were being put through an obstacle course to receive the ARG. We found ourselves joking that some Councils wanted to know your inside-leg and bra-size, whilst others simply asked for three months’ worth of bank statements.

The differences in approach and attitude from Councils became even more apparent, along with the incompetency displayed too. Many discrepancies were coming to light, such as some were demanding applications signed off by Chartered Accountants with a Pro-Forma, others were claiming the ARG was only for Limited Companies, and a few stated it wasn’t available for domestic premises, the variety of responses was quite shocking.

Many Councils are uncontactable and applicants were told to not contact them for six weeks, whilst others were paying out grants within a couple

of weeks. We were fully aware that this would vary due to the amount of current applications that each council was dealing with across all businesses. However, many members waited weeks and would later receive requests for further information, delaying the process further and sometimes ending in members being told the application deadline had now passed.

There are groomers out there who have not received a penny and have been living on fresh air since the start of this year, never mind the financial impact from the previous year and November lockdown, especially as we weren’t awarded grants for that period either and we have fought to have grants backdated.

When our previous article was submitted we advised groomers to contact the BEIS to request support and a change in classification for our industry to enable the Local Authorities to pay out grants according to the same rules that the hospitality and retail industry are under, which allows ‘Click & Collect’ and ‘Takeaway/Delivery’ whilst still receiving full grant support, yet meanwhile we are restricted to ‘Welfare’.

As this is at an average of 5-10% of a Groomers trade whilst being told we’re entitled to no support due to not being classed as ‘Open’, ‘Closed’, ‘Essential’ or ‘Non-essential’. The BEIS responded on the 26th of February, ignoring our pleas and stating that Dog-Groomers were not entitled to the LRSG and that any Council paying the grant after the 26th of February would be investigated and any grants paid post the 26th would have to be returned. This was a kick in the teeth for the members who had received notification prior to this telling them to expect money in the next 7+ days this put an immense level of stress and anxiety on groomers whilst we tried to figure out what we could do next. The BEIS stated all groomers were only entitled to now apply for the ARG and yet the inconsistency of responses increased confusion.

We had eagerly awaited Boris’ last announcement with eager ears, his roadmap out of lockdown left many of us believing it was the 12th of April for returning to normal trading. We waited with bated breath for DEFRA & CFSG to update guidance. On the 3rd of March when the Budget was announced a wave of excitement spread regarding Restart Grants but here at TGK we felt we would also potentially be refused that grant too in light of the battle we have had so far and our main focus still needed to be on attempting to overturn the classification. We looked to our supporting bodies and hoped they would back us to receive the fair treatment we deserve.

We were met with silence, as frustrations and anxieties worsened many groomers were left in a situation where they had no choice other than to start bending or breaking the rules, even if they’d been following them

in the first place, because living on nothing, especially for those with families is not an option. We tried to get DEFRA to acknowledge the situation and to do what was necessary, but sadly nothing happened. On the 12th of March eventually an update appeared for the animal industry with guidance across the board, sadly the one industry that they didn’t seem to have any information for was the groomers. Stating in ‘Step 1B’ (No earlier than 29/03/) ‘The Government has not yet provided revised guidance to groomers. We propose welfare grooming only as in the current protocol until further information is available’ - ‘Step 2’ (No earlier than 12/04/) ‘Grooming should follow guidance for non-essential retail, more information to come in due course’.

Yet there was a key piece within that line, the words ‘Non-Essential’ what we have been fighting for all along, which should allow us to receive the grants. We were left with an understanding that we are looking at the 12th of April at the earliest with the Restart Grant support without a fight.

On the 18th of March guidance was received by all Councils for the forthcoming Restart Grant support for April onwards and finally we have been named on the non-essential list stating that we will be entitled to the Restart Grant up to the value of £6K (if you’re a rateable business) fantastic news for the grooming industry as a whole but sadly not for our home-based and mobile groomers.

We are currently investigating financial support options for them in April. Happy as we are to eventually hear this news, we are not going to let lie the previous grants that many groomers have been refused now we’ve been deemed as non-essential, surely that means all groomers who were refused are now entitled to request a review of this decision. There is a small window of time left in which to do this as the deadline for the January grants closes on the 31st of March. We will be preparing new templates requesting a review of their initial decision based on this new information.

What has come to light is a major failing in the way the Government gave discretion to Councils in the first place. This should not have happened, it should have been a clear-cut set of rules, not allowing each Council to pick and choose what criteria they would like to set.

This hasn’t just affected our industry; many other industries are suffering in exactly the same way. It’s a disgrace to think our country is being run this way, it shouldn’t be a postcode lottery! So please if you’re not already a member, come along and join us at: www.facebook.com/groups/ thegroomerskennel where we’ll do our best to advise and support you and help you work your way through the roadmap of traffic-jams and diversions and let’s hope we can save as many Salons as possible by helping each other in our time of need. The wonderful Colin Taylor; World Class Groomer and Judge of BBC1’s ‘Pooch Perfect’ showed his support and kindly did a podcast with myself which aired on the March 3rd where we discussed in depth the situation Dog groomers across the UK are in, you can hear it at: www. buzzsprout.com/1343569 so please tune in for some heated chat.