Rishi Sunak announced on the 5th November, the day England went in to the second period of lockdown, extended support to businesses and the self-employed.  We have included a summary below, but please note all details have not yet been announced: –

Extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until 31 March 2021

Full guidance is to be issued by HMRC on Tuesday 10 November

Who qualifies?

• The employer nor the employee needs to have previously claimed or have been claimed for under CJRS to make a claim under the extended CJRS (if other eligibility criteria are met).
• An employer can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee
• Employers can claim for any amount of time and shift pattern, including full and flexi furlough.

How much help will we receive and when?

• Employees will receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
• The employer makes NO contribution to wages for hours not worked.
• Employers will only be asked to cover National Insurance and Employer pension contributions for hours not worked.
• Claims can be made from 8am Wednesday 11th November.  Claims made for November must be submitted to HMRC no-later than 14 December 2020. Claims relating to each subsequent month should be submitted by day 14 of the following month

Job Retention Bonus Scheme

This will NOT be paid in February, and the Government will redeploy a retention incentive in due course.

Self-employed income support scheme extension (SEISSE)– further guidance can be found here

The SEISS extension – Two further grants, each for 3 months November 2020 to January 2021 and February 2021 to April 2021.

Who can claim?

• You must have been previously eligible for the first and second grants although you do not have to have claimed them
• You must declare that you intend to continue to trade and either:
  • are currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
  • were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus

How much will you get?

The third grant will cover the 3-month period – 1 November 2020 to 31 January 2021. The Government will provide a taxable grant calculated at 80% of 3 months average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total. This is an increase from the previously announced amount of 55%.  We assume at this stage that the average monthly trading profits are based on the average of the three tax years ended 5^th April 2019, although detailed guidance has not yet been released.

The fourth grant will cover 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021. The Government will set out further details, including the level of the fourth grant in due course.

How and when can you claim?

The online service for the next grant will be available from 30 November 2020. HMRC will provide full details about claiming and applications in guidance on GOV.UK in due course.

Business Grants

For businesses that are forced to close in England due to local or national restrictions, business grants are available as follows: –

• For properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, grants of £1,334 per month.
• For properties with a rateable value over £15,000 and below £51,000, grants of £2,000 per month.
• For properties with a rateable value of £51,000 and over, grants of £3,000 per month.

Guarantee loan schemes

Extension of the application deadline

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Future Fund, and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme applications have been extended to the end of January 2021. This will give businesses two extra months to make loan applications (relative to the current deadline of 30 November).

Top up of Loan amount

Businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum (i.e. the lower of £50,000 or less than 25% of their turnover) can now apply to top-up their existing loan. Businesses will be able to take-up this option from next week, but they can make use of this option once.

Mortgage and consumer credit payment holiday extension

Mortgage payment holidays will continue to be available for homeowners in the UK. Borrowers who have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a 6- month holiday and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to 6 months without this being recorded on their credit file.

Payment holidays will also continue to be available for consumer credit products such as personal loans and car finance. As with mortgages, borrowers impacted by coronavirus who have not yet taken a payment holiday on that product can ask for one of up to 6 months and those that currently have a payment holiday will be eligible to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file. Borrowers with high-cost short-term credit products such as payday loans will continue to be entitled to a maximum month payment holiday.

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Welcome to Figure Fairy  Ltd - Chartered Accountants Bodmin, Cornwall. We provide accountancy and bookkeeping services to businesses in Cornwall and beyond, including Bodmin, Camelford, Callington, Launceston, Liskeard, Looe, Lostwithiel, Newquay, Saltash, St Austell, St Blazey, Torpoint, Truro, Wadebridge and Slough.

We are Xero specialists, but are happy to work with other accounting packages, such as  Quickbooks & FreeAgent.