The government has set out a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support public services, people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19.
This information and advice is ever changing and developing. The latest information about these initiatives can be found here:
- Extra protection for businesses with ban on evictions for commercial tenants who miss rent payments - click here
- Financial assistance for employers unable to pay statutory redundancy payments - click here
- The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - click here.
- Deferring VAT and Income Tax payments - click here.
- Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs - click here
- 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England - click here
- Small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief - click here
- Grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 - click here
- The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5million for SMEs through the British Business Bank - click here.
- A new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans - click here.
- The HMRC Time To Pay Scheme - click here
Below you can find more information on help available to businesses.
Government guaranteed loans
- The government is making available an initial £330 billion of guarantees - equivalent to 15% of our GDP. That means that businesses who need access to cash top pay their rent, salaries, suppliers or purchase stock will be able to access a government-backed loan, on attractive terms. If demand is greater than the initial £330bn, the Chancellor will go further and provide as much capacity as required.
- These loans will be available through two main schemes, which will be up and running by the start of next week:
- For larger firms, to support liquidity, a new lending facility will be created to provide low cost, easily accessible commercial paper.
- To support lending to Small and Medium Sized businesses, the new Business Interruption Loan Scheme will be extended, providing loans of up to £5 million, with no interest due for the first six months.
Insurance, business rate relief and cash grants
- For pubs, clubs, theatres and other hospitality, leisure and retail venues which have a policy that covers pandemics, the government's action is sufficient and will allow businesses to make an insurance claim against their policy.
- For businesses which don't have insurance, those with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will receive an additional cash grant of up to £25,000 per business to bridge through this period.
- All businesses in these sectors, regardless of their rateable value will pay no business rates this year.
- The government will provide an additional £2.2 billion funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no Business Rates, because of Small Business Rate Relief. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to around 700,000 businesses who currently receive Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief, to help meet their business costs. Local authorities will be fully compensated for these measures.
- The next quarter of VAT payments has been deferred for all businesses. This provides an injection of around £30 bn for businesses
- 100% business rates relief extended to bingo halls, estate agents, and letting agencies forced to close due to Covid-19.
Statutory Sick Pay
- The government will legislate to allow small and medium-sized businesses (SME's) to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to Coronavirus for up to two weeks.
- For more information on how to use the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to claim back employees’ coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), please click here.
Support with tax liabilities
- All businesses and the self-employed in financial distress with outstanding tax liabilities may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through the HMRC's Time To Pay service. We all have to play our part in tackling this virus and slowing the spread. As with any new illness, information about the virus spreads is still emerging, but symptoms of Coronavirus include a cough, high temperature and shortness of breath.
Support for Businesses Renting Premises
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Extra protection for businesses with a ban on evictions for commercial tenants who miss rent payments. No business will be forced out of their premises if they miss a payment in the next three months.
