Governmental Measures to Support SMEs Affected by COVID-19

The government has announced VAT payments have been deferred for 3 months (20^th March – 30^th June). This is estimated to inject £30bn back into UK businesses. f you choose to defer your VAT payment, you must pay the VAT due on or before 31st March 2021.

At this time, Government has said that all the VAT payments due following the end of the deferral period will have to be paid as normal.

All UK VAT registered business are eligible to defer their next VAT payment.

For support with PAYE & Corporation Tax payments, you must still contact HMRC. Please ask your main contact at Goodwille to handle this for you if required.

No applications are required and you do not need to tell HMRC that you are deferring your VAT payment. However, note that if you normally pay by Direct Debit you should contact your bank to cancel your Direct Debit as soon as you can.

HMRC will reimburse 80% of furloughed workers’ wages, up to a cap of £2,500 per month, under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. All UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.

On  12th May, the government announced that the scheme will be extended until the end of October.

This is open to all UK businesses, and the employee must be on the PAYE scheme. 

Previously employees had to be on the scheme by the 28th February, but this has since been extended to the 19th March. The rules of the scheme have stated that the employee must remain employed by the company, but not undertaking any work. However, from 1‌‌ July 2020, employers have the flexibility to bring previously furloughed employees back to work part-time – with the government continuing to pay 80% of wages for any of their normal hours they do not work up until the end of August.

The online service is now live and open for applications. We have written a separate article, which will give you more detailed guidance on the scheme and how you can submit a claim. Please see it here.

You are eligible if your business:

• pays tax to the UK government
• has outstanding tax liabilities

However, please note that businesses do not automatically qualify for the scheme, but instead, the need for support will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and will be tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.

If you feel you cannot pay your tax bill due to COVID-19, please request that your Goodwille contact calls HMRC as soon as possible to avoid any penalties due to late payments.

SMEs with up to 250 employees will be subject to a Statutory Sick Pay relief for absence due to COVID-19 (either because they have coronavirus or self isolating due to suspected coronavirus), meaning they are able to reclaim sick pay (at SSP rate) for up to 2 weeks per employee. Worth to mention is that SSP will be paid day 1 of those affected by Coronavirus, rather than day 4.

All employers based in the UK and who have fewer than 250 employees (as of 28 February 2020) can claim for an employee who’s eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus. In addition, you must have had a PAYE payroll scheme in place on or before 28 February 2020.

You can make the claim for the following reasons:

• 13 March 2020 – if your employee had coronavirus or the symptoms or is self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
• 16 April 2020 – if your employee was shielding because of coronavirus

If your employee has COVID-19 or is advised to stay at home, they can get an ‘isolation note’ by visiting NHS 111 online, rather than visiting a doctor. For COVID-19 cases this replaces the usual need to provide a ‘fit note’ (sometimes called a ‘sick note’).

On 19 May, the government announced that the online claims service will launch on Tuesday 26 May. Please notify our Payroll Manager if you think this applies to any of your employees.

Please note that you must keep the below records for 3 years following your claim;

• the reason why an employee could not work
• details of each period when an employee could not work, including start and end dates
• details of the SSP qualifying days when an employee could not work
• National Insurance numbers of all employees who you have paid SSP to

Government has announced a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England. For additional support, please see the next section about available grants.

All businesses in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector, and based in England, are eligible for this scheme.

Properties that benefit from the scheme include those that are wholly or mainly used as:

• as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
• for assembly and leisure (for example: a sports club, a gym or a spa)
• as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation

All businesses in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector, and based in England, will automatically qualify and do not need to take any action themselves. If your business has already received a bill showing a value, this will be reissued automatically by the local authorities. They will do this as soon as possible.

For businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure sectors with a property that has a rateable value of up to £15,000, may be eligible for a cash grant of £10,000.

For businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure sectors with a property that has a rateable value of over £15,00 and under £51,000, may be eligible for a cash grant of £25,000.

Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme.

You are eligible for the grant if:

• your business is based in England
• your business is in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector
• your business has a rateable value of under £51,000

Exclusion to RHLG:

• Recipients cannot receive both SBGF and RHLG on the same property. (see the next section for SBGF)
• Businesses which are not ratepayers in the business rates system are not included in this scheme.
• As of 11 March your business was in liquidation or dissolved.

Properties that will benefit from the relief will be occupied hereditaments that are wholly or mainly being used:

• as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
• for assembly and leisure
• as hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation

Your local authority will write to you if you are eligible for this grant, you do not need to do anything. All communication should go through your local authority.

For those businesses already in receipt of either Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief (RRR) in the business rates system will be eligible for a one-off grant of £10,000.

You are eligible if:

• your business is based in England
• you are a small business and already receive small business rate relief (SBBR) or rural rate relief (RRR)  as of 11 March
• you are a business that occupies property

Eligible recipients will receive one grant per property.

Businesses which as of the 11 March were in liquidation or were dissolved will not be eligible.

You do not need to do anything. Guidance and funding for the schemes will be available to local authorities shortly who will contact businesses who are eligible.

Commercial tenants who cannot pay their rent because of COVID-19 will be protected from eviction. These measures will mean no business will automatically forfeit their lease and be forced out of their premises if they miss a payment up until 30 June. This is not a rental holiday. All commercial tenants will still be liable for the rent.

All commercial tenants are eligible.

As a tenant you are protected from eviction, but you do still have to pay the rent. You should contact your landlord to discuss arrangements if you are struggling to pay your commercial rent. The change will come into force when the Coronavirus Bill receives Royal Assent. No action is required.

In order to ensure continuous financing support for SMEs during critical times, the British Business bank have guaranteed an 80% payback to lenders of SMEs financially affected by the outbreak. The government will also cover interest rates and any lender-levied fees for the first 12 months so businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments.

Various type of business financial facilities are supported under the CBILS scheme, including:

• Term loans
• Overdrafts
• Asset finance
• Invoice finance

 The scheme is available through more than 40 accredited lenders, which are listed on the British Business Bank website.

The criteria for the scheme was changed on the 2nd April, following the banks rejecting a large number of loan requests. The loans have been made more accessible for smaller businesses. This scheme was set up to help any viable business with turnover of no more than £45 million per year.

Changes as of the 2nd April

• Applications will not be limited to businesses that have been refused a loan on commercial terms, extending the number who benefit. However, the Treasury has not capped the interest rates banks can charge.
• Banks will be banned from asking company owners to guarantee loans with their own savings or property when borrowing up to £250,000
• Larger firms with a turnover of up to £500m will also be eligible for more help – with state-backed loans of up to £25m available to firms with revenues of between £45m-500m.
  source: bbc.co.uk

However, to be eligible, you still need to show that your business:

• would be viable were it not for the pandemic
• has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus

For detailed eligibility criteria:

• Visit the Government’s site for CBILS
• Visit the British Business Bank general website for CBILS.
• See the quick elibility checklist for SMEs.

CBILS is available through the British Business Bank’s 40+ accredited lenders – see the full list here.

Businesses should first approach their own provider (preferably via the lender’s website) but may consider approaching other lenders as well if they are not able to acceess the finance they need.  For more information on how to access the scheme,  please visit the Brisith Business Bank’s website.

On April 20, the government unveiled plans to launch a new “Future Fund” for startups and has initially promised £250 million towards the £500 million fund, while the other half will come from the private sector. This means that the scheme will operate on a match funding basis and to unlock the investment from the government (ranging from £125,000 to £5m), the startup needs to secure an equal or greater amount of funds from private investors. Investment through the scheme will come in the form of a convertible loan note. This may be a good option for you if you rely on equity investment and can’t access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The fund is expected to be launched in May and will initially be open for applications until the end of September.

You are eligible if:

• your business is an unlisted UK registered company
• you have raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from private, third party investors in the last five years
• you can attract the equivalent match funding from third-party private investors and institutions

The government will publish the full eligibility criteria shortly.

The Future Fund is expected to be launched in May 2020. We will update this section once new information becomes available.

The Bounce Back Loan scheme is aimed at smaller businesses and will enable them to borrow of up to 25% of their annual turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000. Under this new scheme (launched on May 4), the firms are expected to get the cash “within days” after applying.  The government will guarantee 100% of the loan as well as pay the interest on the loan and any associated fees for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.

The scheme is delivered through a network of accredited lenders.  Loan terms will be up to 6 years but you can repay early without paying a fee. If one lender turns you down, you can apply to other lenders in the scheme.

You are eligible if:

• you are a UK based business
• your business was established before 1 March 2020
• your business has been negatively affected specifically by the coronavirus crisis and was not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ on 31 December 2019

At this stage, there hasn’t been any clear definition of what “undertaking in difficulty” means but it is likely to mirror the viability test which applies to the CBILS. If a business was struggling to meet its financial obligations before the outbreak of COVID-19, they may be excluded from the BBLS scheme.

You cannot apply if you are:

• a bank, insurer or reinsurer (but not insurance brokers)
• a public-sector body
• a state-funded primary or secondary school

Note that you also can’t apply for this scheme if you are already claiming under:

• Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
• Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
• COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility

However, if you would like to transfer a loan (of up to £50 000) you received under CBILS into the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, you can arrange this with your lender until 4 November 2020.

There are 11 lenders participating in the scheme including many of the main retail banks. You should approach a suitable lender yourself via the lender’s website.

The lender will ask you to fill in a short online application form and self-declare that you are eligible.

The lender will decide whether to offer you a loan or another type of finance and you’ll be responsible for repaying 100% of the amount borrowed.

Find a lender here.

HM Treasury and the Bank of England have launched a Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) to provide additional help to businesses who experience disruptions to their cash flows as a result of COVID-19. The CCFF will provide funding to businesses by purchasing commercial paper of up to one-year maturity, issued by firms making a material contribution to the UK economy. It will help businesses across a range of sectors to pay salaries, rents and suppliers.

The scheme is operated by the Bank and will run for at least 12 months.

All UK non-financial businesses that meet the criteria set out on the Bank of England’s website are eligible.

For more information on how to access the scheme,  please see the Bank’s website  as well as this page for contact details.