Covid-19 Business and Individual Support Measures

20-03-2020

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Covid-19 Business and Individual Support Measures

As on 01^st April 2020

Loans and Bank Support

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

Information

How we can help

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is interest free for twelve months. The Government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan.

The Government will not charge businesses or banks for this guarantee and will support loans of up to £5m.

It will temporarily replace the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) and be provided by the British Business Bank.

The following types of loans are being provided by the partner banks:

Term loans
Overdrafts
Asset finance
Invoice finance

For the list of British bank’s accredited lenders click here.

For more details on eligibility click here.

Once you have contacted your lender and initiated the application process, we can assist you with the application if required. For our accounting clients the fee is £250 + VAT for the initial advice and assistance, plus 3-5% of the approved loan dependent on a successful application and the level of work and assistance required in obtaining the funding which will be assessed on a case by case basis. For our initial interactions with the bank, we realise that the information request from the bank is substantial and we also expect a significant amount of professional time before the applications are approved.

If you would like us to begin working on your application please complete the spreadsheet:

Information

How we can help

• Creating dedicated helplines

• Offering repayment holidays to free up cash within businesses

• Reviewing overdrafts or trade loans to allow stock to be held for longer

• Providing trade finance solutions to support customers with their supply chains

Please introduce us to your relevant account manager and we will kick off the conversation straight away. Or we can introduce you to a bank we know.

Staff

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Furloughed Workers

Information	How we can help
Grants to cover 80% of the salary of PAYE employees not working but furloughed and kept on payroll, up to £2,500 a month. This is backdated to 1 March 2020 and will be open before the end of April, for at least 3 months.	If we process your payroll, we can guide you through the process from advice on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to making the claim for furloughed employees. Please click below for more details
We have checked with our professional indemnity providers. We cannot review your staff employment contracts and advise you whether you can ‘furlough’ somebody. However, a pragmatic solution could be to ‘negotiate’ the furlough terms with individual employees (as stated by the government), in writing, as we believe that should suffice.	For absolute certainty, please contact an employment lawyer. Or, we have negotiated a special rate with HR Dept who have offices across the UK. Contact Olivia (olivia.flattery@hrdept.co.uk), include your contact details (name, address, phone number) and you will receive a call from your local HR Representative.
For Directors on minimum salary the same principle will apply. If you are a director and take minimum salary and maximum dividends you are an employee and, if you draw your salary through a PAYE scheme, you can be furloughed from the date you were unable to work. The salary must go through a PAYE scheme, and had to be being paid and in operation before 28.02.2020.	Use the Corona Virus Business Interruption Loan to help finance the shortfall between the normal remuneration and the grant.

Self-Employed and Individuals

Information	How we can help
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme Self-employed trader or in a trading partnership Must have < £50k profits on average over the last 3 years (note: this is based on profits after expenses, not the gross income) Majority of taxable income must be from the trade Have lost trading profits due to COVID-19 Have filed a tax return for 2018-19 Late filers will have until a new 23 April 2020 deadline to bring their returns up to date and these late returns will be “risk assessed” by HMRC, no doubt to check for excessive income Must 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 2020-21	HMRC will work out who is eligible from their records and contact you This will likely be end April as they need to design the systems The initial three-month grant will be paid directly to a nominated bank account in a single lump sum. There will be a form to complete Please be careful to check that any communication from HMRC is really from them and is not a scam The grants are expected to be paid out at the beginning of June. You can calculate how much you may be entitled to, please click below. For more information click here
For Directors
Dividends and salary do not qualify as being self-employed and so will not qualify for the self-employment income support scheme. Self-employed people operate a trade through either a sole trader or partnership. If you have both a self-employment business and also a director, you will only qualify for self-employment income support scheme if the self-employment profit declared on your 2019 tax return was more than 50% of the total income declared on the tax return and was below £50K on average over last 3 years. Benefits do not count towards your self-employment profits, (only trading profits declared on your self-assessment return) Must 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 2020-21.
Universal Credit If you are on low income or unemployed, you can now more easily make a claim for Universal Credit or Contributory Employment and Support Allowance	For a guide on how to claim click here. Click below icon to know more
Contributory Employment and Support Allowance will be payable, at a rate of £73.10 a week if you are over 25, for eligible people affected by COVID-19 or self-isolating in line with advice from Day 1 of sickness, rather than Day 8
You may be able to claim New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) with, or instead of, Universal Credit, depending on your National Insurance record.	Click here for more information
What other support is available?
The second tax payment on account for self-assessment, due on 31 July 2020, for 2019-20, is being deferred for all taxpayers, not just the self employed	Deferment is automatic and we can model in the forecast cashflow as above to see the impact on your business

VAT

VAT deferment

How we can help

Deferral of VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 until 31 March 2021. This effectively means an interest free loan from HMRC for one quarter’s VAT.

The next quarter of VAT payments will be deferred, so no payments until the end of June. Businesses have until the end of the financial year to repay the payments deferred.

Deferment is automatic and we can model in the forecast cash flow as above to see the impact on your business

Mortgages

Information	What can we do
Mortgage lenders have agreed they will support customers through payment holiday of up to 3 months.	We can assist in liaising with your bank
Many banks providing further support on mortgages through reduced or deferred payments, longer term support extending term of their mortgage, switching part/all to interest-only mortgage arrangements	We can assist in liaising with your bank

Covid-19 Insolvency Update

Information

What can we do

The Government is making changes to the insolvency legislation. These amendments seek to protect businesses, give them breathing space to survive and ensure that, where appropriate, insolvency can be avoided

If you would like information please contact our Insolvency team carrie.james@benemack.com

Suspension of Wrongful Trading Action from 1 March 2020

The Government has announced that Wrongful Trading provisions will be suspended from 1 March 2020 for an initial period of 3 months in order for businesses to keep going without the threat of personal liability.

Support for business rates

Key relief areas in England (slight differences for rest of UK)	Criteria	Relief	What can we do
Small Business Rate Relief (retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises)	Properties with a Rateable Value over £15,000 and less than £51,000	Small Businesses eligible for 100% relief under SBBR will be eligible for a £25,000 cash grant.	Let us know if your local authority has not contacted you by end of April
Charitable Rate Relief	Eligible charities and community amateur sports clubs may apply for relief of up to 80%		We can apply for you.
Small Business Rate Relief	Properties with a Rateable Value of less than £51,000, only occupying one property	Grants of £10,000 to small businesses eligible for Small Business Rate Relief (up from £3,000)	You will be contacted by your local authority, they will not take calls, this may change.
Rural Rate Relief	Properties in eligible areas (population less than 3,000) that are the only village shop or post office with a Rateable Value of less than £8,500; or the only pub or petrol station with Rateable Value of less than £12,500
Retail Discount (Retail, leisure and hospitality businesses)	100% discount for one year beginning April 1 2020 (applied to all rateable values)		Not required
Hardship Relief	Ratepayers experiencing financial difficulties may apply to their local authority for hardship relief which may grant a discount or exemption to the ratepayer at their discretion.

Updated guidance for employers, businesses and employees is available at: