The CBAs 2020 interviewing may have been paused and the Gala Dinner postponed until November but the CBA team together with the sponsors are making sure we are still able to support businesses as much as possible by sign-posting you to the latest guidance and business support available.

The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic is affecting billions of people around the world on an unprecedented scale.
The Government has been clear that everyone should stay at home to help stop the spread of the disease wherever possible, but this is causing huge challenges for businesses and individuals across the country.

Over the past few weeks, the Government has announced a series of support packages for businesses and workers who have had their income affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Our Business Person of the Year sponsor, Ellacotts has kindly pulled together a summary of these packages, which they have outlined below:

  • Extending Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) so employees who are suffering from the Coronavirus or those who have been advised to self-isolate receive it from day one instead of day four for those.
  • Allowing employers with less than 250 employees to reclaim SSP for up to 2 weeks’ per eligible employee who has been off work because of the Coronavirus.
  • There will be a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year. A £25,000 grant will be provided to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises, with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000.
  • Support for businesses that pay little or no business rates. There will be one-off grants of £10,000 to businesses currently eligible for Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rate Relief, to help meet their ongoing business costs.
  • A temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to support businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts.
  • The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme where 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 made redundant during this crisis.
  • Mortgage payments holidays for up to 3 months for those who are struggling to pay their mortgage
  • There will be a VAT payment deferral for 3 months. The deferral will apply to VAT payments due from 20 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.
  • If you are due to make a payment on account under Income Tax Self-Assessment, payments due on the 31 July 2020 will be deferred until the 31 January 2021.
  • An HMRC Tax helpline for business and self-employed people in financial distress.
  • The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-employment Income Support Scheme for self-employed workers with a grant of 80% of profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months. This is open for those with profits of less than £50,000 and you must have submitted your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19 by 23 April 2020 to be eligible.

For more details on any of the points listed above, please visit Ellacotts dedicated Coronavirus information area on their website. If you’d like to speak with one of Ellacotts Tax Advisers about any of the key points above, please call Ann Bibby on 01295 250401 or abibby@ellacotts.co.uk.