We hope you are well and keeping sane!
There have been a few announcements recently over current schemes but also a new Grant has been agreed, please see below for the details –
Discretionary Business Grant
These grants have been made available for those small or micro businesses that have fixed property costs but who did not qualify for the previous £10,000 or £25,000 grants.
As with the previous grants these will be issued by your local authority, so please do check their websites for the details and specific information required. The eligibility criteria is as follows –
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Your business is based in England
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Has relatively high ongoing fixed property-related costs
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Occupies property (or part of a property) with a rateable value or annual mortgage / rent payments below £51,000
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Was trading on 11the March 2020
Financial information will most likely be requested for the application so please let us know if you require assistance with this.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
From the 1st July the government have announced flexible furlough, this will allow employers more flexibility in bringing employees back in to work as there will be no minimum furlough period. Currently the minimum period is 3 weeks. However, they have closed the furlough scheme to new furloughed employees, therefore if you wish to furlough an employee who has not been furloughed previously this needs to be done today so they hit the 3-week minimum. They will also not allow any new employers in to the scheme so if you have not yet made a claim but think you’d need to then please do let us know so we can ensure the claims are made on time.
Once the new rules are in place, employees can be furloughed for any length of time, even down to a few hours, and work the rest of the pay period, subject to the employer gaining their agreement in writing. The employer must pay for the hours the employee works at full rate ensuring that any minimum wage increases are applied, when the employee is not working the furlough claim can be made to cover the 80% of the cost, this is at the furlough rate previously applied and will not take any minimum wage increase in to account.
There is also a change to the financial support employers will be able to claim for from 1st August as follows –
August – 80% wages support up to £2,500.00 but no employer NIC or pension costs covered
September – 70% wages support up to £2,187.50 but no employer NIC or pension costs covered
October – 60% wages support up to £1,875.00 but no employer NIC or pension costs covered
We will be making the claims for June’s furlough payments on Thursday 18th June, we will be in touch over the next week to confirm if there are any changes to be noted on your claims, but please do send us an email with the details in the meantime if you wish.
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
The chancellor announced an extension of this scheme to further support those affected, this means a second claim can be made in August. The amounts are lower than the original claim at 70% of your average monthly trading profits up to a cap of £2,190 per month.
The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and you will need to confirm that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus. You do not need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant: for example, if you have only been adversely affected by COVID-19 later on.
HMRC are closing the first grant claims on 13th July, so if you have not made your claim yet but want to please make sure you put it in by this date. If you are not able to make the claim online then you should have received a letter with details on an alternative way.
As ever, stay safe and healthy.
Very Best
Dunnell Accounting