COVID-19 information Hub

The Government have today announced £1bn in support measures available to businesses most impacted by Omicron.

The new support measures include the following:

• Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises, plus more than £100 million discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses.
• Government will also cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for COVID-related absences for small and medium-sized employers across the UK
• £30 million further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter

More details can be found on the Government website.

Rishi Sunak announced the latest Budget on 3rd March 2021. In addition to the general tax changes, further COVID support measures were also announced.  These are predominantly extensions or tweaks to existing schemes in place, but we have summarised the main announcements here.

Regularly updated, this page provides a round up of the latest news and updates on the measures introduced by Government to support businesses during the Coronavirus outbreak, as well as practical solutions that can help businesses during these uncertain times.

– Visit Support in more detail

– Government guidance – COVID-19: support for businesses

Local Restrictions Support Grants are available to those businesses forced to close, with each local council negotiating their own support package from Government.

– Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Lockdown Grants

Previous grants for businesses required to close due to national or local restrictions.

– Support Grants for businesses forced to close under Tier 2 or Tier 3

– Support Grants for businesses forced to close during the second Lockdown

Perhaps the most substantial support offered by the Government to date in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic is the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which helps employers meet the cost of paying their employees’ wages.

– Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme extended – how it works

– Furlough scheme extended as a result of the second lockdown

– Key changes to the Job Retention Scheme from 1 July 2020 – introducing the flexible furlough

– Visit our Job Retention Scheme FAQs – Phase 1 to July 2020

– After completing many claims, what we’ve learnt about the Job Retention Scheme

– Job Retention Bonus Details- postponed

– Job Retention Bonus Summary – postponed

COVID-19 has also raised many questions on the subject of SSP, so we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions based on what we know so far.

– Visit our SSP FAQs

– Visit the Government advice

The Job Support Scheme is designed to give support to businesses which have reduced demand, but which continue to employ their workers. It is due to replace the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, which was due to end on 31 October 2020 (before the announcement to extend it on 31.10.20)

– For businesses trading with reduced capacity
– For businesses who need to temporarily close as a result of Covid

Our blog contains details of how the Government proposes to provide support to self-employed workers, throughout the current COVID-19 situation, including confirmation that payments due by 31 July 2020 have been deferred until 31 January 2021.

– Visit our page on help for the Self-Employed

– The scheme is now open – an update to the SEISS

Time To Pay (TTP) allows businesses to make a formal arrangement with HMRC for tax payments to be spread over a longer period of time than they would otherwise be due.

– More details on TTP

– Deferring VAT payments. What happens after 30 June 2020?

COVID-19 will have a significant impact on cash flow for many businesses. The Government have announced details of how it is planning to help with a variety of options available.

– Visit our Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme page (CBILS) for more details

– Visit our Bounce Back Loans information page (up to £50k for small businesses)

– The Government website contains more information on the Future Fund (a scheme open to innovative businesses)

To help smaller businesses affected by the Covid-19 situation the government have provided grants of:

• SCR 100% funded grants for projects costing between £1k and £3k per business, helping them ‘adapt and diversify following the impact of Covid-19’. The scheme opens 02.12.20 on a limited first-come, first-served basis.
– Visit details of how to apply

• £10k for businesses with properties subject to Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rates Relief
– Visit Grants and Business Rates support page

• £25k for businesses with properties subject to Business Rates that operate within the Service, Leisure or Retail Sectors
– Visit Grants and Business Rates support page

• Up to £25k for small business with ongoing fixed property costs which are not subject to Business Rates (including business in share spaces, market traders and bed and breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of Business Rates).
– Visit government website for more details

• Local councils have made a range of new top-up grants and loans available to small businesses in response to the COVID-19 situation.
– Visit Top-up Grants for Small Businesses

To help smaller businesses affected by the Covid-19 situation the government has provided a Business Rates Holiday for Businesses operating in the Service, Leisure or Retail sectors for the 2020/21 Council Tax Period (April 2020 to March 2021).

– Visit Business Rates Relief page

It has been announced that the government will automatically defer any VAT liabilities arising for payment between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020.

– Read more details

On 24 September 2020, Rishi Sunak announced the Winter Support Plan – a series of additional support measures for businesses and individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Read more details

HMRC has announced that self-assessment customers who are unable to file their tax returns by 31 January will no longer receive a late filing penalty, providing they file online by 28 February.

– Read more details

As COVID-19 continues to develop in the UK, we expect to see an increasing number of our clients and businesses in our communities being adversely affected financially. These are clearly extremely challenging and concerning times and the message we wanted to convey from the team at Shorts is a simple one: we are here to help.

– Read our blog in full

– How Genus can assist with Cash Flow modelling

As COVID-19 continues to develop in the UK, we are looking to provide as much support as possible to those business affected by the effects of the pandemic.

Although there is significant uncertainty over what will happen in the coming weeks and months, there are things that businesses can consider to help them through these difficult times.

– Support and options available

– Annual Investment Allowances

Uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 means that many companies are looking for simple & effective ways of improving cash flow. One area which is definitely worth considering is Research & Development (R&D) Tax Relief.

– Visit blog on assisting cash flow throughout Covid-19 through R&D Tax relief

– How our Radius team work with businesses to claim R&D Tax Relief

Members of our team have taken part in a number of webinars since the UK went into ‘lockdown’. Here are links to the audio recordings of those webinars. The information discussed in each was correct at the time of the recording and some of the content will have been revised since that date.

– 01.04.20 – Job Retention Scheme

– 09.04.20 – Self Employment Income Support Scheme.

– 09.04.20 – Government Business Support, an Essential Guide.

– 16.04.20 – Cashflow through COVID-19: Claiming R&D Credits.

– 13.10.20 – Successfully selling a business during a pandemic

– 20.10.20 – Tax saving ideas for businesses and individuals

Although there is significant uncertainty over what will happen in the coming weeks and months, there are things that businesses can consider to help them through these difficult times.

– Support options for businesses right now

– What is a Holding Company

COVID-19 has presented significant challenges and many business owners are now thinking about just how to navigate their way through to the ‘other side’ of the present situation. Our team have pulled together a list of strategies which could help them develop both resilience and revised plans for their future.

– Strategies to help businesses navigating COVID-19

– A positive people strategy for the post COVID-19 era

– Top Marketing Tips to fuel your comeback from COVID-19 lockdown

– The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy May 2020

– Government guidance on creating a safe working environment during the COVID-19 pandemic