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 |