Continued support for businesses affected by Covid

Perhaps unsurprisingly the CJRS (furlough) scheme has been extended to September 2021 which will be welcome news to many businesses still affected by the impact of the pandemic. Careful attention and planning will need to be made as the scheme phases out from July in a similar fashion to the original phasing out that was seen last year. Employers will be asked to contribute to an employee’s gross pay from July, this is in addition to the employer NI and employer pension contributions currently being funded by businesses.

The self-employment income support scheme has also been extended to mirror the furlough extension period covering a fourth and fifth grant.

More funding is also on the horizon for the high street in the form of restart grants to help businesses reopen as national lockdown eases. This will be pleasing news to those businesses that will be ordering and refreshing their stock levels ahead of their reopening dates.

The coronavirus business interruption loan scheme and bounce back loan scheme which are set to close on 31^st March are to be replaced with a new recovery loan scheme giving businesses much needed access to cashflow, allowing them the working capital they need to trade out of the pandemic.

We are also seeing continued support for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses by way of continued rates relief for three further months. There is also an extension of the 5% reduced VAT rate for tourism and leisure businesses to September and 12.5% transition rate for 6 months thereafter before returning to the standard rate of 20% from 1 April 22.

Do speak to us if you need expert advise on cashflow, funding options and business planning and support. We are here to help.