Guidance

Seafood Disruption Support Scheme

Information about the Seafood Disruption Support Scheme.

• From: Marine Management Organisation and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 9 February 2021
• Last updated: 16 February 2021 — See all updates

About the Scheme

The Seafood Disruption Support Scheme (SDSS) is designed to support small or medium-sized businesses that have experienced a verifiable financial loss during the export of fresh or live fish and/or shellfish to the single market between 1 and 31 January 2021.

Who can claim

To be eligible for the Seafood Disruption Support Scheme you must:

1. Be a qualifying business
2. Have evidence of the loss incurred involving the export of fresh or live fish and/or shellfish to the single market between the 1st and 31st January.

Qualifying businesses

To be a qualifying business you must provide evidence that:

• Your business meets at least two of the following criteria: fewer than 250 employees, an annual turnover of under £36 million, and less than £18m in total on your balance sheet (meaning the total of the fixed and current assets).
• Accounts for the last 3 financial years to demonstrate that the business is viable
• You are registered at Companies House or have evidence that you are a sole trader, partnership or other legal entity
• The export of fresh or live fish and/or shellfish was destined for the single market
• You were owner of the fresh or live fish and/or shellfish at the point of loss
• You were exporting or tried to export live or fresh fish and/or shellfish
• You have necessary accompanying documentation for the export of fresh or live fish and/or shellfish (e.g. catch certificates, export health certificate and customs declaration).
• Challenges in the export process resulted in a loss in value or disposal of the consignment (verified by a written description plus the required documents evidencing the loss as set out below)

You must also confirm that:

• You are a standalone entity and do not have a parent company which would take you over the criteria of meeting at least two of the following criteria: fewer than 250 employees, an annual turnover of under £36 million, and less than £18m in total on your balance sheet (meaning the total of the fixed and current assets).
• You have a viable business model to deal with the new trading arrangements going forwards
• You are not claiming for any losses for which you have made or could make a claim through insurance or any other funding through other schemes

Evidence of the loss

To provide evidence of the loss you must be able to demonstrate:

1. The expected value of the consignment and
2. The achieved value of the consignment or
3. The cost of disposal where the consignment was not sold and had to be disposed of.

Evidence of loss	How to prove
1) Expected value of the consignment	If you have a customs declaration you must provide it. If you do not have a customs declaration you must explain why you don’t have it. If you do not have a customs declaration you must also provide other evidence of the expected value and evidence of what caused the loss in the export process. This should be a combination of (not limited to): a) Information provided to the exporter to form the basis of EHC and Customs declaration. b) Attestations given to the groupage company. c) A contract with a buyer. d) A catch certificate. e) A sales note relating to this consignment. f) A sales note relating to a similar consignment (same species, same quality) to provide evidence of expected price. g) Purchase invoice. h) Objective third part price data (i.e. from Fishing News, MMO, or an EU source). Note: evidence of expected values will be checked against MMO data on prices. If you do not have evidence of expected prices, it will be benchmarked against average prices.
2) Actual value achieved	a) Invoice of what price the consignment was sold for (including sales invoice and credit note) and b) A bank statement matching the invoice.
3) Disposal costs	a) If it was not possible to sell the consignment and it needed to be disposed of then provide the invoice for the disposal costs and b)The bank statement which matches the invoice

How much is available

The maximum support available is up to £100,000 per business (in total) and any payments will be made as a proportion of losses incurred.

How to apply

The scheme opens on 9 February 2021.

Claims must be submitted by 28 February. The following steps must be taken to apply:

1. Check that you are a qualifying business
2. Check that you have evidence of the loss incurred
3. Apply under the Seafood Disruption Support Scheme online system.

Further information and complaints

Further information is included within the scheme FAQ You can also email the Seafood Disruption Support Scheme at the Marine Management Organisation directly at [email protected].

If you would like to make a complaint about the scheme, and/or the level of service provided, this should be made in line with the Marine Management Organisation’s customer complaints procedure.

Published 9 February 2021
Last updated 16 February 2021 + show all updates

1. 16 February 2021

   Update to FAQ to clarify eligibility for live bi-valve molluscs (section 25).

2. 10 February 2021

   Added in explanation of 'balance sheet', to confirm that this is the total of the fixed and current assets.

3. 10 February 2021

   Additional clarity added around eligibility criteria to confirm that businesses must meet at least two of the following criteria: fewer than 250 employees, an annual turnover of under £36 million, and less than £18m in total on your balance sheet.

4. 9 February 2021

   First published.