Affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19)

LAST UPDATED 21/12/2021

The government has just announced additional financial support for businesses impacted by the Omicron variant.

The current advice issued by the Government will dramatically impact most businesses over the coming months.

Below are details of the guidance issued by HM Revenue & Customs to support businesses affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19).

As HMRC guidance is updated we will update this page to keep you informed. Above all, if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

PLEASE BE AWARE!

There are phishing emails in circulation regarding the repayment of VAT, PAYE and other taxes.

HMRC will not contact you by email or telephone to request bank details. They will write out to you. Please be vigilant at all times and contact us if in any doubt to confirm.

Guidance to help employers, employees and the self-employed understand how to work safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

HMRC has issued guidance on How to work safely during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The guidance covers a range of different work environments and is designed to help employers provide a safer workplace for their employees as businesses start to reopen.

Separate guidance is available for educational and childcare settings.

Make sure you read all the guides relevant to your workplace. Each guide has specific actions for businesses to take based on these steps. Further guidance will be published as more businesses are able to reopen.

"Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, cash flow is reality"

Cash Flow

Cash flow planning is key for effective management of all businesses. At this time of uncertainty during the Covid 19 Hiatus, it is more critical than ever.

Cash is the lifeblood of all businesses, and at this period of uncertainty, all business owners and their finance teams must understand what cash is due to go out of the business and then make deliberate decisions about their payment.

The biggest unknown of course is what cash will come in. To an extent that can be influenced through effective credit control procedures, but not with high levels or certainty.

Our recommendations to you

Prepare a simple Excel spreadsheet with today`s bank balance as your starting point and then plot a diary through to the end of September 2020 by day.
Most businesses, certainly with regard to overhead, have defined payments and in broadly equal amounts each month. Export your last three months bank statements, identify those payments, the typical monthly sum and the typical date paid.
Create a number of new columns to your spreadsheet identifying the payment type, eg wages, rent etc. Plot the payments on your Excel spreadsheet over the next six month period.
Consider then your supplier payments (cost of sales), and plot when they fall due on your Excel Spreadsheet by key supplier. This will vary according to the level of trade you are currently doing.
Plot your regular payments of taxes, VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax.
Make a best, but prudent, estimate of what cash will be collected, when and from which customer.
You should now have your “Base Line model”.
Each day create a copy of the tab in your Excel spreadsheet, and plot actuals against where you thought you would be.
Extend your spreadsheet to account for COVID-19 strategies, including:
1. VAT Deferment
2. Furloughing
3. Grant Receipts
4. Business Funding

You now have your spreadsheet to enable you to:

Decide on payments.
Identify troughs in your businesses cash that need management.
Have a document that allows you to proactively manage the business.
Provides a document to discuss with Pierce and funders.

As always, if you require assistance, our Pierce team is ready to assist. Please call us on 01254 688100.

Guidance for Businesses

Further advice relating to Coronavirus - Issue 4 01/05/2020

This week's hot topics include the importance of personal and cyber health when working from home, wills and protecting the family wealth in collaboration with Pareto and Farleys.

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Further advice relating to Coronavirus - Issue 3 24/04/2020

This week's hot topics include Research & Development, the impact of Coronavirus on commercial contracts & retirement in collaboration with Pareto and Farleys.

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Further advice relating to Coronavirus - Issue 2 15/04/2020

Advice from Pierce and other professionals on various hot topics relating to coronavirus and how it is affecting your businesses.

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Further advice relating to Coronavirus - Issue 1 06/04/2020

We hear from other professionals on various hot topics relating to coronavirus and how it is affecting your businesses.

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Government Support Available

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furloughed Workers)

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.

Find out more

Employee issues including Statutory Sick Pay, Time Off, and Lay-Offs

Details of the online service to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and information on the rights of both employers and employees in relation to Holiday Pay, Sick Pay, Lay-offs and Short Time Working.

Find out more

Funding - Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

CBILS is a new scheme that can provide facilities of up to £5m for smaller businesses across the UK who are experiencing lost or deferred revenues, leading to disruptions to their cashflow.

Find out more

Businesses that pay little or no business rates

The government will provide additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered relief.

Find out more

HMRC Helpline

HMRC has a set up a phone helpline to support businesses and self-employed people concerned about not being able to pay their tax due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Find out more

Self-Employed

Details on how the government propose to support those that are self-employed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Find out more

Nursery Businesses

The government will introduce a business rates holiday for nurseries in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Find out more

Deferment of VAT

As a further cashflow boost to business, the Chancellor has announced a deferment of VAT return payments due to HMRC between 20 March and 30 June 2020; to be paid instead by 31 March 2021.

Find out more

Cash Grants

The Retail and Hospitality Grant Scheme provides businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property.

Find out more

Business Rates holiday

HMRC will introduce a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

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Job Support Scheme

The initial guidance from HM Revenue & Customs on the new Job Support Scheme which will commence on 1 November 2020 and replace the Coronavuirus Job retention Scheme which is due to end on 31 October 2020.

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Accounting Deadlines

If the coronavirus has affected your business and as a result, you are unable to file your accounts by the filing deadline you may apply for an extension.

Find out more

Rented Accommodation

The government has announced a radical package of measures to protect renters and landlords affected by coronavirus. As a result, no renter in either social or private accommodation will be forced out of their home during this difficult time. This also applies to commercial properties.

Find out more

Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan

The Bounce Back Loan scheme will help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000. The government will guarantee 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.

Find out more

Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund

In response to the Coronavirus, COVID-19, the government announced there would be an additional fund is aimed at small and micro businesses who were not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Fund.

Find out more

Frequently Asked Questions

There is no guarantee fee for SMEs to use the CBILS scheme.Lenders will pay a fee to access the scheme.

The scheme is designed to support smaller businesses (SMEs) who don’t meet a lender’s normal lending requirements for a fully commercial loan or other facility, but who are considered viable in the longer-term.

Potentially, if your business activity is primarily UK based. For early stage businesses in their first two years of trading, the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme (loans £500 to £25,000 at 6% p.a. interest) may be more suitable.
Visit www.startuploans.co.uk for more information.

Yes. You must show in your borrowing proposal that were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic, your business would be considered viable by the lender, and for which the lender believes the provision of finance will enable your business to trade out of any short-to-medium term difficulty. We can help you with this proposal.

If you have a query about an active EFG facility, you should approach your current provider – ideally via their website, and not the British Business Bank.

If you have a query about an active EFG facility, you should approach your own provider –ideally via their website –and not the British Business Bank. Any request for re-financing an existing EFG facility will be at each individual Lender’s discretion, be subject to certain limits, and you meeting the CBILS eligibility criteria.

CBILS will initially run for six months.

CBILS is a new scheme. It is different from EFG in a number of ways.
1.CBILS provides the lender with an 80% government backed partial guarantee against the outstanding facility balance , subject to an overall portfolio cap. Under EFG this was 75%.
2.There is no guarantee fee for SMEs to use CBILS
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