With 2021 starting for businesses in much the same light as 2020 ended, we wanted to provide a reminder of the support that is currently available to businesses to help with the impacts of COVID-19.
Much of the below is covering old ground, but it’s really worth reviewing to ensure that your business has claimed all of the support that it is entitled to.
Self Employed Income Support Grants (SEISS)
As a starter, this is only available to Self Employed Individuals or Partners. If you own a Limited Company, you’ll likely want to skip this section.
There were two initial grants offered in the Spring & Summer of 2020, with the Government announcing two additional grants available in 2021.
The first is payable for businesses impacted by COVID before 1 November 2020 – 29 January 2021 and is payable up to £7,500.
The window for this grant closes on 29th January 2021
You can apply here
There is due to be a fourth (and potentially final) grant in the Spring, but specific details of this are yet to be release.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
The CJRS scheme, allowing employers to ‘furlough’ employees, is still open and available to claim for qualifying employees.
The scheme allows for employees to temporarily layoff staff (furlough them), with the employee still being entitled to 80% of their normal salary, up to a cap of £2,500 per month.
There are various qualifying criteria which we have covered off in other blogs & articles, but if you’d like a recap on this for your business please just get in touch.
Lockdown Grants
On 5th January 2021 it was announced that business in the retail, hospital & leisure sectors will be able to claim a grant of up to £9,000 per property that the business operates from.
To qualify, the business must have been forced to close as a result of COVID and fall into the relevant sectors.
The level of the grants payable varies, as below:
£4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
£6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
£9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000
These grants will be administered by Local Councils and applications should open by mid-January.
In addition, there will be a discretionary funds for businesses that are affected who don’t fall directly into the main guidelines. These grants will be paid out at the discretion of local authorities.
Bounce Back Loans / CBILS Loans
Due to the ongoing COVID situation the initial application period for Bounce Back and CBILS loans was extended to 31st March 2021.
The extension also allows for business to extend any borrowing that they previously drew, up to the previous cap of £50,000 or 25% of your turnover.
For example, if you only borrowed £25,000 but had the ability to push this to £40,000, you could now return to your bank and apply for additional borrowing if required.
CBILS loans are available for businesses looking to borrow more than £50,000.
Unlike the three previous areas of support, the loans are repayable in full, plus interest, following an initial 12-month repayment holiday.
As always, if you’d like to discuss how any of the support can be utilised for your business please reach out to us.
