COVID-19 Support for business

COVID-19: Government update- Supporting Businesses.

Yesterday during the Government’s daily press conference, the Chancellor announced unprecedented measures to help support businesses and individuals through the worst of the economic disruption that COVID-19 may cause.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor are clear- they will do whatever it takes to support business through this period of uncertainty.

At the Budget, the Chancellor set out the first stage of our response to tackle Coronavirus with a £30 billion package of support for people and businesses. Now the Government is going further.

Yesterday (March 17^th), the Chancellor has announced an unprecedented package of government-backed loans and guarantees to support business. We will make available an initial £330 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of our GDP – so any businesses who needs access to cash to pay their rent, the salaries of employees, pay suppliers or purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan.

Support for business:

As I mentioned above, the Government are providing a £330 billion package of loans and guarantees which is worth 15% of our GDP.

If demand is greater than the initial £330 billion the Government are making available, the Chancellor confirmed that Government will go further and provide as much capacity as required.

This means that any good business in financial difficulty which needs access to cash to pay their rent, the salaries of their employees, pay suppliers, or purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan, on attractive terms.

• Larger businesses will receive access to liquidity with a major new scheme being launched by the Bank of England.
• Small and medium sized businesses will receive support through extension of the Business Interruption Loan Scheme announced in the Budget. This means that, rather than providing loans of £1.2 million, it will provide loans of up to £5 million, with no interest for the first six months.
  • In addition, the Government will provide small businesses in these particularly affected sectors with an additional grant scheme of up to £25,000. Any business with a rateable value of less than £51,000 can now get access to a government grant.
• These schemes will be up and running by the start of next week – and the Chancellor is also taking a new legal power in the Covid Bill to offer whatever further financial support is necessary.

This comes in addition to measures announced in the Budget. The Government announced that they would be providing £3,000 grants to the 700,000 of the UK’s smallest businesses. To support their cash flow, the Government are increasing those grants to £10,000.

One of the biggest outgoings for a business is their wage bill. I was very pleased to hear that the Government will support small and medium-sized businesses to cope with the extra costs of paying Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) by refunding eligible SSP costs.  

The criteria for eligible businesses are:

• The refund will be limited to two weeks per employee who has claimed SSP as a result of Covid-19.
• Employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible
• Employers should keep records but should not require employees to provide a doctor’s note.
• The eligible period will commence from the day on which regulations extending SSP come into force.
• Government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible.

Support for people affected by COVID-19:

While it is important, we support our businesses through this, businesses would be nothing without their hardworking employees who will also be impacted by the economic disruption caused by COVID-19.

For those in difficulty due to coronavirus, measures are being introduced bringing forward a three-month mortgage holiday – so that people will not have to pay their mortgage while they get back on their feet.

Support is also being made available for those who are eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) by increasing the eligibility criteria – and a doctor’s note can be obtained via NHS 111.

For those not eligible for Statutory Sick Pay, namely the self-employed and employees below the Lower Earnings Limit, support is being made available through robust changes to the benefits system.

New changes include:

• Make SSP payable directly to people affected or self-isolating from the first day rather than eighth.   
• Ensure people will be able to claim Universal Credit and access advanced payments without the current requirement to attend a job centre.  
• Relax the requirement of the minimum income floor in Universal Credit for those directly affected by COVID-19 or self-isolating according to advice.  

This comes in addition to the £500 million Hardship Fund to Local Authorities so they can support economically vulnerable people and households in their local area.

Support for constituents:

I know this is a very worrying time for many constituents. I will continue to keep my website and social media updated with each major announcement and will also aim to support Norfolk's fantastic community response so that we can all help each other. I want to ensure that constituents have the most reliable, up to date information as the situation progresses.  

The Government’s response to COVID-19 will continue to evolve as circumstances develop. I would strongly urge all constituents to keep up to date with the latest advice from Public Health England which can be found at the below web address.

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/