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Original artwork by local photographer W H Harding for more information click here

Coronavirus Update – Winter Economy Plan 24/09/2020

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, today announced additional support for businesses and workers.

Whilst the details and guidance are yet to be published, the main elements of the announcement were:

-Job Support Scheme to commence 1st November, for a 6 month period, providing a grant towards the wages of employees working reduced hours due to decreased demand.

-Only applies for employees who are working a minimum 33% of their usual hours, that element of the wages to be met in full by the employer.

-For hours not worked, a grant will be provided calculated at one third of usual salary, capped at £697.92 per month, and a further one third to be paid by the employer.

-The Self Employment Income Support Grant will be extended to cover the 3 months November to January next year representing 20% of average monthly profits up to £1875. Eligibility remains unchanged.

-A second grant will be available to cover February to April 2021, though the terms may vary.

-The reduced 5% VAT rate in place for the tourism and hospitality sectors will continue until 31st March 2021.

-Businesses who deferred a VAT payment to 31st March 2021 will be able to make payments of that by subsequent 11 monthly instalments, interest free.

-Self-assessment taxpayers will have available a 12 month time to pay facility, so that tax payments already deferred from July 2020, as well as that due in January 2021 can be deferred to January 2022.

-The Bounce Back Loan Scheme will be more flexible, allowing the repayment term to increase to up to 10 years, interest- only periods and payment holidays.

-Lenders under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme will be able to extend the repayment period to a maximum of 10 years.

-Application deadlines for the above two loan schemes as well as the other Coronavirus loans has been extended to 30th November.
For the full announcement Click here

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