Business Support

We have created this page of resources to assist you with business support documents, links, and video blogs as information becomes available.

Funding available

Video Updates

Downloadable Resources

Useful links

Funding available

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

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.
All UK businesses are eligible and can access this scheme.
HMRC will reimburse 80% of furloughed workers wage costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month, per employee.
To access the scheme you will need to designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers’ and notify your employees of this change. We can provide a template for this – download this from our ‘downloadable resources’ section on this page.
Changing the status of employees remains subject to existing employment law and, depending on their employment contracts, may be subject to negotiations.
Furloughed employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on or before 19th March 2020 and can be on any type of contract including full time, part time, agency, varied or zero hour contracts.
The scheme also covers employees that were employed as of 28th February 2020 who were made redundant after that and prior to 19th March 2020, if they are rehired by their employer.
Employees hired after 19th March 2020 cannot be furloughed or claimed for in accordance with this scheme.
Employers can reclaim the employers NI contributions and employers pension contributions of 3% at the time of making a claim.
Period of furloughed leave must be a minimum of 3-weeks. It can be rotated amongst employees.
When on furlough leave, the employee CANNOT undertake ANY work for the employer.
Employees furloughed pay is subject to tax and NI in the normal way.
Information to make a claim will be submitted via a new online portal made available on Monday 20th April 2020.
Please seek HR advice on laying staff off, redundancy etc. to ensure it is in-line with existing contracts. Our TaxWise HR phone line is 0844 892 2807. HMRC telephone number for assistance is 0800 024 1222.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

Statutory sick pay (SSP) relief package for SMEs announced covering up to 2-weeks SSP per eligible employee.
SSP of £94.25 pw payable from day 1 if you fall under the new eligibility criteria.
Applies from 16th March.
Repayment mechanism is being set up over the coming weeks for reimbursing companies.
You are entitled if you cannot work due to coronavirus.
You are entitled if you are staying at home on government advice because of coronavirus due to self-isolating household quarantine.
You are not entitled if you have already had 28 weeks SSP max entitlement or if you are self employed – you should claim Welfare Benefit or Universal Credit instead.
The Government has confirmed that employees will not need to provide a fit note in order to receive STATUTORY SICK PAY (SSP) when self-isolating due to coronavirus. Small-and medium-sized businesses and employers can reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19.
SMEs (less than 250 employees as at 28 Feb 2020) can reclaim SSP paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19 (this refund will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee).
Employers should maintain records of staff absences and payments of SSP. If evidence is required by an employer, those with symptoms of coronavirus can get an isolation note from NHS 111 online and those who live with someone that has symptoms can get a note from the NHS website.

Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
The scheme will provide a taxable grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month, initially for 3 months, to be extended if necessary.
HMRC will use the average profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to calculate the size of the grant.
HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational. HMRC will then pay the grant directly to eligible claimants’ bank account.
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month, initially for 3 months, to be extended if necessary.
HMRC will use the average profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to calculate the size of the grant.
HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational. HMRC will then pay the grant directly to eligible claimants’ bank account.
HMRC is urgently working to deliver the scheme; grants are expected to start to be paid out in June 2020.
For eligible individuals who have not submitted their returns for 2018-19, they will have until 23rd April 2020 to file their returns and therefore become eligible for this scheme.
Directors paid via salary and dividends are NOT included in this scheme.
Self employed businesses that incorporated their business from 6th April 19 are NOT included.
Self employed who have only been trading since 6th April 19 are not included although please check latest guidance as more support is being made available over the next few weeks.
To qualify, you MUST:

Be self employed or a member of partnership.
Have lost trading profits due to COVID-19.
Have traded in 2019-20.
Filed a tax return for 2018-19 with self employed / partnership profits.
Intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21.
Be currently trading at the point of application (or would be except for COVID-19).
Have trading profits of less than £50k and have more than half of your total income come from self employment. These can be with referenced to at least one of the following conditions: your trading profits and total income in 2018-19; your average trading profits and total income across up to the 3 years between 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19.
For more information to claim, see HMRC link here

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

For SME’s, funding can be sought through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (through the British Business Bank).
The government will guarantee 80% of the loan making it easier to obtain.
Personal guarantees are normally required although the big 4 banks are NOT requesting this for loans < £250k. 12 months interest free (interest will be met by the government).
Funding made available from 23rd March 2020.
You should talk to your bank or finance provider as soon as possible and discuss your business plan with them. This will help your finance provider to act quickly once the Scheme has launched. If you have an existing loan with monthly repayments, you may want to ask for a repayment holiday to help with cash flow.

VAT Deferral

VAT payments will be deferred between 20th March and 30th June 2020, meaning businesses will not need to make VAT payments during this time. Businesses will then have until the end of the 2020-21 tax year to settle any liabilities that have accumulated during the deferral period.
The deferral applies automatically, and businesses do not need to apply for it. VAT refunds and reclaims will be paid by the government as normal.
Cancel your direct debit to ensure payment is not taken should you want to benefit from this support.
All VAT registered UK businesses are eligible for VAT Payment Deferral.

Income Tax Deferral

For Income Tax Self-Assessment, payments due on the 31st July 2020 will be deferred until the 31st January 2021.
If you are self-employed you are eligible to defer your income tax payment.
It is an automatic offer with no need to apply.
No penalties or interest for late payment will be charged in the deferral period.

Time to Pay

All businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service.
These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.
You are eligible if your business pays tax to the UK government and has outstanding tax liabilities.
To access the scheme, as you have missed a tax payment or you might miss your next payment due to COVID-19, please call HMRC’s dedicated helpline: 0800 0159 559.

Business Rates / Council Support

Small grant funding of £10,000 for ALL UK businesses in receipt of small business rate relief.
This does not need repaid and is to help your ongoing business costs.
If your business is eligible you will be contacted by your local authority however applications are available online with a closing date of March 2021.
Funding will be made available from early April 2020.
A 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses is available. You do not need to do anything to get this relief, it will be applied automatically.
A £10,000 grant will be provided to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from premises with a rateable value of under £15,000.
A £25,000 grant will be provided to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from premises with a rateable value between £15,001 and £51,000.
This will be dealt with by local authorities. Click here to find your local authority.
Guidance for local authorities has been provided by the government here.

Additional support has been provided meaning subsequent properties is now INCLUDED. See link here.

3-month mortgage holiday

Government is going to pass emergency legislation to protect private and social renters. There are currently 4.6 million privately renting households in the UK. Legislation will ensure that landlords cannot evict tenants who struggle to pay rent for three months. Where landlords have “buy to let” mortgages, banks should be able to offer them the same deal as homeowners.
Mortgage borrowers can apply for a three-month payment holiday from their lender. Both residential and buy-to-let mortgages are eligible for the holiday.
Borrowers still owe the amounts that they don’t pay as a result of the payment holiday. Interest will continue to be charged on the amount they owe.
Tenants can apply for a three-month payment holiday from their landlord. No one can be evicted from their home or have their home repossessed over the next three months.

Late filing of Company Accounts

If, immediately before the filing deadline, it becomes apparent that accounts will not be filed on time due to your company being affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19), you may make an application to companies house to extend the period allowed for filing.
If you do not apply for an extension and your accounts have been filed late, an automatic penalty will be imposed. The registrar has very limited discretion not to collect a penalty.
Each appeal is treated on a case-by-case basis, and Companies house already have policies in place to deal with appeals based upon unforeseen poor health. Appeals based upon COVID-19 will be considered under these policies.
If Count on You Ltd take care of your accounts, you needn’t worry about this as we never miss such a deadline.