Business assistance

Commercial tenants to be protected from eviction. Measures included in the emergency Coronavirus Bill will mean no business in England, Wales or Northern Ireland will be forced out of their premises if they miss a payment through until 30 June.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will allow all UK employers to access support covering up to 80% of employee costs (up to £2500 per employee per month) for employees who are furloughed and kept on payroll, rather than being laid off. This is backdated to 1 March 2020 and will last for an initial 3-month period.

Employees will require to be designated as ‘furloughed workers’ and notified of this change. Changing the status of employees will remain subject to employment law and, depending on the employment contract, may be subject to negotiation. Employers may want to see advice from an employment lawyer.

Information will require to be submitted to HMRC through a new portal service (further information still to be provided by HMRC) about the relevant employees and their earning.

Guides for employees and employers have been published by HMRC giving more detail on the scheme. HMRC is aiming to have the scheme open by the end of April 2020 and further detailed guidance will be published closer to the time.

VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 will be deferred for all UK businesses. Liabilities accrued during this deferral period require to be repaid by the end of 2020/21 financial year.

No applications are required to be made to access this deferral.

VAT returns should continue to be submitted by the normal due dates.

Where VAT is normally paid by direct debit, the direct debit instruction requires to be cancelled if the business wishes to defer its payment. This requires to be done in sufficient time for the cancellation to take effect.

VAT refunds and reclaims will continue to be repaid as normal.

Direct debit instructions will require to be re-established for subsequent periods.

There will be a Business Rates Retail Discount of 100% for one year, expanded to the leisure and hospitality sectors in England.

Businesses which received the retail discount in 2019/20 will be issued with a revised bill by their relevant local authority shortly. No action is required to be taken by the business to obtain this relief.

Guidance has been published for local authorities which provides more detailed information on the business premises which this will apply to.

A similar package has been announced by the Welsh Government, although it has decided that this will not apply to properties with a rateable value over £500,000.

There is a full year’s 100% non-domestic rates relief for retail, hospitality and tourism for 2020/21.

The Scottish Government has announced a 1.6% relief for all properties subject to non-domestic rates, effectively freezing the poundage rate for 2019/20 into 2020/21.

Employers based in the UK with fewer than 250 employees (as of 28 February 2020) will be able to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for employees unable to work because of coronavirus. This refund will be for up to 2 weeks per employee.

Employers should maintain records of staff absences and payments of SSP.

Employees will not require to provide a GP fit note, but if employers require evidence those with symptoms of coronavirus, or those who are living with someone that has symptoms, can get an isolation note from NHS 111.

The scheme will commence from the day after the regulations on the extension of SSP to those staying at home comes into force.

Guidance on accessing the scheme including eligibility and records that require to be maintained is available.

England

One-off grants of up to £25,000 per property will be available for businesses in the retail, hospitality and retail sectors, to help meet their ongoing business costs.
For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of under £15,000, they will receive a grant of £10,000.
For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £51,000, they will receive a grant of £25,000.
No action is required to obtain the grant. Local authorities will write to properties eligible for the grant.

Wales

For retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Wales, a grant of £25,000 will be offered for businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000.
For retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, they will be eligible for the general business grant (see Small Business Grant Scheme (E&W) below).

Grants will be administered through the Welsh local authorities. Businesses need to confirm some details through an online form.

Businesses in the hospitality, leisure and retail sector with buildings with a rateable value of between £18,000 and £51,000 can apply for a grant of £25,000.

Apply directly through the relevant local authority:

• Aberdeen - scroll down to "Council Services" then click on "Businesses" to download the form
• Aberdeenshire
• Angus
• Argyll and Bute
• Clackmannanshire
• Dumfries and Galloway - scroll down to "Business Rates and Associated Grants"
• Dundee
• East Ayrshire
• East Dunbartonshire
• East Lothian - scroll down to "Business Support"
• East Renfrewshire - scroll down and click on "Business Support"
• Edinburgh
• Falkirk
• Fife
• Glasgow
• Highland
• Inverclyde
• Midlothian
• Moray
• Na h-Eileanan Siar
• North Ayrshire
• North Lanarkshire
• Orkney
• Perth and Kinross
• Renfrewshire
• Scottish Borders
• Shetland - scroll down to the "Businesses" section to download the form
• South Ayrshire
• South Lanarkshire
• Stirling
• West Dunbartonshire
• West Lothian

England

One-off grants of £10,000 to businesses eligible for small business rate relief (SBBR) or rural rate relief (RRR) to help meet their ongoing business costs.

No action is required to obtain the grant. Local authorities will write to properties eligible for the grant.

Wales

The Welsh Government package also provides a £10,000 grant to all businesses eligible for Small Business Rates Relief with a rateable value of £12,000 or less.
Grants will be administered through the Welsh local authorities. Businesses need to confirm some details through an online form.

£10,000 grants for small businesses in receipt of the Small Business Bonus Scheme or Rural Relief.

Apply directly through the relevant local authority:

• Aberdeen - scroll down to "Council Services" then click on "Businesses" to download the form
• Aberdeenshire
• Angus
• Argyll and Bute
• Clackmannanshire
• Dumfries and Galloway - scroll down to "Business Rates and Associated Grants"
• Dundee
• East Ayrshire
• East Dunbartonshire
• East Lothian - scroll down to "Business Support"
• East Renfrewshire - scroll down and click on "Business Support"
• Edinburgh
• Falkirk
• Fife
• Glasgow
• Highland
• Inverclyde
• Midlothian
• Moray
• Na h-Eileanan Siar
• North Ayrshire
• North Lanarkshire
• Orkney
• Perth and Kinross
• Renfrewshire
• Scottish Borders
• Shetland - scroll down to the "Businesses" section to download the form
• South Ayrshire
• South Lanarkshire
• Stirling
• West Dunbartonshire
• West Lothian

A new Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank, to support businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts, interest free for an initial 12-month period. The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan (subject to a per-lender cap on claims) to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs.

Applications are through any of the 40 accredited finance providers (not the British Business Bank).

The full rules of the scheme and the list of accredited lenders are available on the British Business Bank website.

The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) will enable banks to make loans of up to £25 million to firms with an annual turnover of between £45 million and £500 million. The government will provide lenders with an 80% guarantee on individual loans for businesses that would be otherwise unable to access the finance they need. The new scheme will launch later in April and will support a wide range of businesses to access finance products including short term loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance. Businesses will remain responsible for repaying any facility they may takeout.

To be eligible, businesses must:

• be UK-based in its business activity
• have an annual turnover between £45 million and £500 million
• be unable to secure regular commercial financing
• have a borrowing proposal which the lender:
• would consider viable, were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic
• believes will enable you to trade out of any short-term to medium-term difficulty

Businesses from any sector can apply, except for banks and building societies, insurers and reinsurers (but not insurance brokers) and public-sector organisations, including state-funded primary and secondary schools.

There will be a Corporate Financing Facility from the Bank of England which will buy short-term debt from larger companies.

All businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service.

Contact HMRC or call the HMRC helpline for advice on +44 (0)800 0159 559.

A business rates holiday will be given to nurseries in England for 2020/21 where the property is occupied by providers on Ofsted’s Early Years Register or which are wholly or mainly used for the provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Guidance for local authorities which provides more detailed information on the business premises which this will apply to is available in the nursery discount guidance.

No action is required to be taken by the business to obtain this relief. Revised bills will be issued by the relevant local authority shortly.

The Scottish Government has announced that funding of over £5m will be offered to over 650 seafood fishing companies. An initial payment of 50% of two months’ average earnings will be made to owners of all full time Scottish registered fishing vessels of 12 metres length and under. Support is also being developed for the onshore processing industry and others in the shellfish growing sector.

The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships). The scheme will provide a taxable grant to self-employed individuals or members of partnerships, worth 80% of their average profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month.

The average profits will be calculated from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The scheme will be open to those for whom the majority of their income comes from self-employment and who have average profits of less than £50,000. The scheme will be open for an initial three months with people able to make their first claim by the beginning of June.

To be eligible for the scheme, the relevant person must meet all the criteria below:

• Be self-employed or a member of partnership;
• Have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19;
• File a tax return for 2018-19 as self-employed or a member of a trading partnership. Those who have not yet filed for 2018-19 will have until 23 April to do so;
• Have traded in 2019-20; be currently trading at the point of application (or would be except for COVID 19) and intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• Have trading profits of less than £50,000 and more than half of your total income come from self-employment. This can be with reference to at least one of the following conditions:
  • Your trading profits and total income in 2018/19
  • Your average trading profits and total income across up to the three years between 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19.

No action is required at this time to obtain the SEISS grant. HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational.

HMRC will pay the grant directly to eligible claimants’ bank accounts. Grants are expected to start to be paid out by the beginning of June 2020.