Following our last post please see below a summary of measures available to support businesses.
– a 12 month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
– a small business grant of £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
– a grant of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
– a job retention scheme which pays 80% of wage costs for workers who would otherwise have been laid off
– support for businesses who are paying statutory sick pay due to COVID-19
– VAT payments which are due between 20.3.20 and 30.6.20 can be deferred until the end of the 2020/21 tax year
– income tax payments which are due by 31.7.20 can be deferred until January 2021
– a business interruption loan scheme
As of today, Monday 23rd March it is our understanding the business interruption scheme is now open. The grants available will be dealt with directly by your local authority and they will write out to businesses directly, this should happen during April. The job retention scheme is to be administered by HMRC and they are currently building a system to operate this, they expect this to be in place for early April. The VAT and income tax payment deferral are automatic and there is no need to contact HMRC.
Further detail from GOV.UK can be found by clicking here.