We will add to the top of this page (below these main links) as further information becomes available.
Main links:
- GOV.UK guidance for the self-employed, employees, employers and businesses
Information and advice direct from Government - Money Saving Expert‘s Coronavirus financial help & rights
Help & information (in plain English) covering many of the recent updates & initiatives - HM Government’s Coronavirus Business Support
Direct links to the Government’s information pages on specific financial support packages
12 November 2020
Updated edition of our November COVID-19 Business Support Guide
Including key changes and updates following the introduction of the second national lockdown across England.
You can read the guide in full here
9 November 2020
Update from the Government’s further announcements on 5 November
The key changes relate to:
- Job Retention Scheme
- Self-employed Income Support Scheme
In summary, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for furloughed employees has been extended until the end of March 2021, rather than finishing on 2 December 2020. Consequently, the two versions of the Job Support Scheme that were due to come in on 3 December will now not happen (at least until the CJRS has finished).
The Job Retention Bonus, due to give a payment to the employer in February 2021 of £1,000 per employee, where a previously furloughed worker is kept in employment until the end of January 2021, will no longer be paid.
An increase in the third self‐employed grant, covering November to January, from 55% to 80% of relevant trading profits. This is the same amount as the first grant earlier this year.
Further details on these changes are available here
5 November 2020
The latest edition of our COVID-19 Business Support Guide
In the 1st edition of our Coronavirus Business Support Guide for November, we now also include coverage of last week’s announcements from the government, including the second national lockdown affecting England, alongside the Chancellor’s original steps that together formed his Winter Economic Plan –
- Coronavirus Job Support Scheme
- Job Support Scheme for open businesses (JSS Open)
- Job Support Scheme for closed businesses (JSS Closed)
- Job Retention Bonus
- Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
- Kickstart Scheme
- Tax deferrals
- Statutory Sick Pay refunds
- Reduced VAT rate
- Business Support loans
Plus, England only:
- Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme
- Fines for breaking isolation
- Local authority grants for businesses
Plus, Scotland only:
- Self-isolation grant
- Local authority grants for businesses
Plus, Wales only:
- Self-isolation payments
- Local Business Fund grants
- Economic Resilience Fund for businesses
Plus, Northern Ireland only:
- Local Restrictions Support Scheme for businesses
- Discretionary support during the COVID-19 pandemic
For further help or assistance with any of the topics raised, get in touch – you can call us on 01932 564098 or message us here.
28 October 2020
Our further revised, October COVID-19 Business Support Guide
In the 3rd edition of our Autumn Business Support Guide, produced to ensure we include coverage of even the most recent announcements and measures, we now also include the changes specific to England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland, alongside the Chancellor’s original steps that together formed his Winter Economic Plan –
- Job Support Scheme for open businesses (JSS Open)
- Job Support Scheme for closed businesses (JSS Closed)
- Job Retention Bonus
- Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
- Kickstart Scheme
- Tax deferrals
- Statutory Sick Pay refunds
- Reduced VAT rate
- Business Support loans
Plus, England only:
- Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme
- Fines for breaking isolation
- Local authority grants for businesses
Plus, Scotland only:
- Self-isolation grant
- Local authority grants for businesses
Plus, Wales only:
- Self-isolation payments
- Local Business Fund grants
- Economic Resilience Fund for businesses
Plus, Northern Ireland only:
- Local Restrictions Support Scheme for businesses
- Discretionary support during the COVID-19 pandemic
If you’d like any guidance or assistance with any of the topics raised, please ask – call us on 01932 564098 or message us here.
16 October 2020
Our updated COVID-19 Business Support Guide
In the most recent version of our newsletter we explain not just what was announced initially by the Chancellor as part of his Winter Economic Plan, but now also include updates on many of these new COVID-19 business support measures, including –
- Job Support Scheme
- Local Job Support Scheme for closed businesses
- Job Retention Bonus
- Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
- Kickstart Scheme
- Tax deferrals
- Statutory Sick Pay refunds
- Reduced VAT rate
- Local authority grants for closed businesses
- Test and Trace isolation payment
- Fines for breaking isolation
- Business Support Loans
If you’d like any guidance or assistance with any of the topics raised, please ask – call us on 01932 564098 or message us here.
11 August 2020
Updated COVID-19 Business Support Guide
The most recent edition of our updated and comprehensive business support guide to help you through the Coronavirus crisis is now available, covering a broad range of topics, including –
- Grants for employers to cover salaries
- Grants for the self-employed
- Deferral of Income Tax
- Deferral of VAT
- Temporary VAT reduction
- Sick pay support for employers
- More time to pay taxes
- Eat Out to Help Out Scheme
- ‘Kickstart’ scheme and apprenticeship bonus
- Business rates holiday
- Grants based on rateable values
- Loans for businesses
- Protection for tenants
- Temporary Stamp Duty Land Tax reduction
- Cancelling your VAT registration
- Claiming Universal Credit
- Business rates and grants: Regional variations
You can read or download the guide in full here
As always, if you’d like any guidance or assistance with any of the topics raised, get in touch – message us here or call us on 01932 564098.
26 June 2020
VAT payment deferral period ends 30 June 2020
Did you cancel your direct debit to HMRC?
With the end of the VAT payment deferral period on 30 June, if you chose to take advantage of it and decided not to pay your last VAT quarterly payment, you need to:
- Set-up new direct debits in enough time for HMRC to take payment (the next payment date is 10th July for 31st May quarter ends)
- Submit VAT returns as normal, and on time
- Pay the VAT in full on payments due after 30 June
Any deferred VAT payments should be paid in full on or before 31 March 2021. Additional payments can be made with subsequent returns.
If you are unable to pay the VAT due and may need time to pay, you should contact HMRC as soon as possible and before the payment is due.
The government information in full can be found here.
As always, if you’d like some help, please get in touch – message us here or call us on 01932 564098.
09 June 2020
Coronavirus Business Support Guide
The latest edition of our comprehensive and updated business support guide, to help you navigate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is now available.
- Grants for employers to cover salaries
- Grants for the Self employed
- Deferral of Income Tax
- Deferral of VAT
- Sick pay support for employers
- More time to pay taxes
- Business Rates holiday
- Grants based on rateable values
- Loans for businesses
- Protection for tenants
- Cancelling your VAT registration
- Claiming Universal Credit
- Business rates and grants: Regional variations
To read or download a copy, click here
24 May 2020
Financial support for voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations
Full details here on how small and medium sized charities and social enterprises can apply for funds from the recently announced £750m of funds to help support the VCSEs during this time.
19 May 2020
Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme set to launch
Employers will be able to make claims through the Government’s Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme from 26 May.
Full details are available on the Government website here and you check if you can claim back SSP that you’ve paid to your employees due to COVID-19 here
01 May 2020
Bounce Back Loans
Aimed primarily at small & medium-sized businesses, the Government’s Bounce Back Loans scheme is due to launch on Monday, 5 May.
With loan terms of up to 6 years and no repayments due during the first 12 months, it will enable businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000.
There are a few business types that are not eligible to apply (including banks, insurers and state-funded primary & secondary schools), but if your business is based in the UK, has been negatively affected by Coronavirus and was not an “undertaking in difficulty” on 31 December, 2019 – you should be okay to apply.
If you’ve already claimed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and it was for no more than £50,000, you can arrange to transfer this to the Bounce Back Loan scheme, but you can’t apply for both.
More information is available here
20 April 2020
Furloughed staff?
Government claims portal now open
- to be registered for PAYE online
- your UK bank account number and sort code
- your employer PAYE scheme reference number
- the number of employees being furloughed
- each employee’s National Insurance number
- each employee’s payroll or employee number (optional)
- the start date and end date of the claim
- the full amount you’re claiming for including employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum pension contributions
- your phone number
- contact name
16 April 2020
Coronavirus Business Support Guide
Our comprehensive and updated business support guide, to help you navigate the crisis is available in full here
07 April 2020
Financial support for businesses during Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Updated information from Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and HM Revenue & Customs summarising what financial support you can get for your business.
Click here to access on the GOV.UK site
26 March 2020
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme
Direct cash grant worth 80% of your average monthly trading profit over the last three years, covering “95% of people who receive the majority of their income from self-employment”.
Initially available for a 3-month period but in one lump-sum payment, payable from the beginning of June.
- HMRC will use the average trading profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to determine the size of the grant
- Scheme also applies to members of partnerships
- Scheme is open to those with a trading profit of less than £50k in 2018-19, or an average trading profit of less than £50 from 2016-17 to 2018-19
- Those who are recently self-employed and do not have a full year of accounts will not receive any help under this scheme
- Prior to payment of this grant, the self-employed can still access other relevant government support, including more generous universal credit and business continuity loans where they have a business bank account
25 March 2020
Urgent:
VAT direct debit payments 
If you are unable to pay your VAT during the COVID-19 crisis and you normally normally pay by direct debit you should cancel the direct debit with your bank NOW.
If you do not allow sufficient time for the cancellation, HM Revenue & Customs may attempt to collect the amount owed on the normal direct debit date (usually the 10th of the month).
Update, 27 March 2020:
24 March 2020
Surrey Chambers of Commerce Coronavirus Hub
A helpful page of content & relevant links compiled by Surrey Chambers, including
- updates from Public Health England
- A business checklist
- Information on the job retention scheme,
- International trade
- Working from home, and much more.
23 March 2020
Companies House filing extension, Business Interruption Loan Scheme open, VAT deferral & SSP queries
- Companies House account filing deadline extensions:
“If, immediately before the filing deadline, it becomes apparent that accounts will not be filed on time due to your company being affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19), you may make an application to extend the period allowed for filing.”
Full details on the .GOV.UK site here - Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for SMEs (CBILS):
40 banks have now signed up to this scheme, including HSBC, Nat West, Lloyds, Barclays & RBS and it should be open for applications from today.
More information by lender here - VAT payments can be deferred for three months:
Effective from 20 March to 30 June 2020, this is an automatic offer and no application is necessary.
More information from HM Government’s Coronavirus Business Support guide here - Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) queries:
Helpful set of Q&As here and details from Government (though these are minimal at time of posting) here
23 March 2020
Working Tax Credits: increased from 6 April
- The government has announced that Working Tax Credits payments will be increased by £20 per week from 6 April – find out what’s happening and who this affects here
22 March 2020
Helpful links
To help you to keep up to date with the latest government announcements that affect both individuals and businesses, we thought it would be useful to refer you to three links below.
Remember, the announcements may change daily, and announcements made “today” will need maybe up to a week for the fine detail to be known and updated in detail on various websites.
The below links will be a very good “go to” place for regularly updated information and all the detail available. Keep an eye on the two links and remember to refresh them in your web browser to make sure you’re seeing the most up to date information. Save them as shortcuts or favourites.
- Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert – this will be a good place to find more interpretation of details and maybe how to apply for and/or obtain things.
- GOV.UK guidance for employees, employers and businesses – lots of clear information and advice direct from Government.
- And you can click here to sign up for email alerts from .gov site as soon as announcements are issued.
We are led to believe that the government backed bank loans will start to be available from Monday 23rd March. So get in touch with your bank as soon as you can if you are desperately short of funds. Be patient and have an attitude of forbearance as helplines and staff etc will be inundated. Your bank may have information on-line on their websites so look there as well.
Grants for small business will be available from local government but will be coming later (date unclear at time of writing, 21st March) – keep an eye on the two above links.
We understand that the government grants to help pay wages will be available later in April (again date not clear at time of writing).
Look after yourself and follow government guidance as best you can.
19 March 2020
COVID-19 – Emergency measures announced by the Government
In the last few days, the Government has made major announcements about help for small businesses and individuals affected by Coronavirus.
Below is a summary of the significant points, although details are awaited as to how some of these schemes may be accessed.
The following measures were announced in the Budget and have not (to date) been updated.
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to be paid from the first day of absence, not the fourth, where people have the virus or have to self-isolate, or care for such people.
- Support through Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance for self-employed people and others not entitled to SSP.
- Full funding of the cost of two weeks’ SSP for small and medium-sized employers whose workers have claimed SSP as a result of Coronavirus.
- Businesses and self-employed individuals in financial distress will be able to negotiate ‘time to pay’ arrangements with HMRC without incurring late payment penalties.
At a press conference on Tuesday 17 March, the following additional measures were announced:
Any business that needs access to cash to pay their rent, salaries, suppliers, or to purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan on “attractive terms” (which have not yet been specified).
- That support will be delivered to small and medium businesses via the new Business Interruption Loan Scheme (announced at the Budget), which will now provide loans of up to £5 million, with no interest due for the first six months.
- The scheme will be up and running by the start of next week.
Retail, hospitality and leisure sectors
- All businesses (not just those with a rateable value of less than £51,000, as previously announced), will pay no business rates for 2020/21.
- Those businesses with a rateable value below £51,000 will also be eligible for an additional cash grant of up to £25,000 (i.e. cash payment from the government) per business, to help them through this period.
- This means that every single shop, pub, theatre, music venue, restaurant , etc. will pay no business rates whatsoever for 12 months and, if they have a rateable value of less than £51,000, they can now get a cash grant as well.
- The 700,000 or so small businesses that are already eligible for 100% business rates relief will receive a grant of £10,000 (not £3,000, as previously announced) to help with business costs.
For those individuals in difficulty due to Coronavirus, mortgage lenders will offer at least a three-month mortgage holiday, so that people will not have to pay a penny towards their mortgage while they get back on their feet.
Separately, speaking in Parliament on Tuesday evening, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay said: “The government is postponing the reforms to the off-payroll working rules, IR35, from 6 April 2020 to 6 April 2021.”
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, intends to come forward with proposals next week to help those unable to work due to Coronavirus. In some other countries, such support has included the government paying a large proportion (sometimes over 75%) of the person’s normal salary or self-employed earnings for several weeks. We await to see if the UK will go down a similar route.
We hope this goes a small way in helping you keep updated, at a very difficult time for the vast majority of businesses.