Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advice and guidance for small businesses and the self-employed

This scheme will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus (COVID-19). The scheme will allow those eligible to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum value of £2,500 each month for the next three months. This scheme will be reviewed and extended if required. 

Who is eligible? 

You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and meet the following criteria: 

• have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
• traded in the tax year 2019-20
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19

In addition to this, your trading profits must be less than £50,000 and more than half your income must come from self-employment. This is defined as: 

• having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

This scheme uses information from your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return, if you have not submitted one for the tax year 2018-19 you must do this by 23 April 2020. If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return. 

How much will I get? 

The grant will be calculated by using a figures 80% of your average profits from the tax years covering 2016-2019. This means that the three years will be added together and divided by three, your grant will be 80% of this figure with a maximum value of £2,500 a month. This will be paid directly into your bank account. 

How to I claim this? 

You need to take no action. HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for this scheme and invite you to apply. Please be award that only HMRC are providing this scheme, if you receive a text, calls or email claiming to be from HMRC, informing you that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund asking you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, it is a scam.

In Wales

The Welsh Government has announced a new fund for the self-employed and businesses to help deal with the impact of the Coronavirus. FSB has encouraged the Welsh Government to use this money to help those that have not been covered by the recent announcement of the Self-employment Income Scheme, and for the money to be available before the HMRC’s June go live date. Find out more here:

• https://www.fsb.org.uk/resources-page/the-key-now-is-to-get-funding-out-of-the-door-as-quickly-as-possible-fsb-wales.html

• https://www.fsb.org.uk/resources-page/fsb-wales-welcomes-chancellor-s-measures-to-support-self-employed-through-coronavirus-crisis.html

A new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank (BBB), launched 23 March 2020 to support primarily small and medium-sized businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts.

The scheme was significantly expanded on 2 April 2020:

• No personal guarantees for facilities under £250k: Personal guarantees of any form cannot be taken under the scheme for any facilities below £250k.
• Personal guarantees for facilities above £250k: Personal guarantees may still be required, at a lender’s discretion, but recoveries under these are capped at a maximum of 20% of the outstanding balance of the CBILS facility after the proceeds of business assets have been applied. A Principal Private Residence (PPR) cannot be taken as security to support a personal guarantee or as security for a CBIL backed facility.
• Security: For all facilities, including those over £250,000, CBILS can now support lending to smaller businesses even where a lender considers there to be sufficient security, making more smaller businesses eligible to receive the business interruption payment

New eligibility criteria:

Smaller businesses from all sectors can apply for the full amount of the facility. To be eligible for a facility under CBILS, a smaller business must:

• Be UK based in its business activity, with turnover of no more than £45m per year.
• Have a borrowing proposal which, were it not for the current pandemic, would be considered viable by the lender.
• Self-certify that it has been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The full rules of the Scheme and the list of accredited lenders is available on the British Business Bank website. There are a number of accredited providers in all with more being added. Businesses wishing to apply for this scheme should approach the lenders directly. 

The BBB have communicated that these changes should be retrospectively applied by lenders for any CBILS facilities offered since 23 March 2020.  For any commercial (non-CBILS) facilities offered since the same date, providing the borrower meets the CBILS eligibility criteria, lenders have been asked to bring these facilities onto CBILS wherever possible (e.g. where the lender is accredited to offer the same facility through CBILS) and changes retrospectively applied as necessary.

The Development Bank of Wales is currently offering all business customers a 3 month capital loan repayment holiday. More information can be found here: https://developmentbank.wales/coronavirus-support-welsh-businesses

Under the new Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility, the Bank of England will buy short term debt from larger companies to support your business if it has been affected by a short-term funding squeeze and allow you to finance your short-term liabilities. It will also support corporate finance markets overall and ease the supply of credit to all firms, all UK based buisnesses are eligible for this scheme. 

Full details and how to apply can be found on the Bank of England website 

The government announced on 17 March that the reform to the off-payroll working rules (commonly known as IR35) - that would have applied for people contracting their services to large or medium-sized organisations outside the public sector - will be delayed for one year from 6 April 2020 until 6 April 2021. Business and individuals do not need to take any action.

On 20 March 2020 the Chancellor announced the suspension of the minimum income floor for the self-employed and that the standard allowance was to rise over the next 12 months by £1,000. This means that self-employed people can now access, in full, Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay for employees. 

You can find out more about Universal Credit and apply on line at - https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

The Retail and Hospitality Grant Scheme provides businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property.

• For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of under £15,000, they will receive a grant of £10,000.
• For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £51,000, they will receive a grant of £25,000.

Businesses based in England, in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector are eligible. This includes properties being used primarily as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas, live music venues, for assembly and leisure and as hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation

You do not need to take any action, if you are eligible for the grant you will be contacted by your local authority. If you are unsure who your local authority is, you can check via the Governments Find your local council tool. 

In Scotland, retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value between £18,000 and up to and including £51,000 are able to apply for a one-off grant of £25,000. A one-off grant of £10,000 is available to small businesses who get the Small Business Bonus Scheme, with some exemptions. You apply for these grants through your local authority – more information.

In Northern Ireland, The NI Executive is providing a one-off grant of £25,000 to ratepayers in the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors who pay rates on a property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000. Further details about how to access this grant will be announced soon.

Additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered relief has been made available. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have now released their guidance for local councils which sets out in full which businesses are eligible and the funding breakdown, you can read this in full at the gov.uk website. 

Eligible businesses are those based in England already receiving SBBR and/or RRR occupying property. 

You do not need to do anything to claim this grant, your local authority will contact you if you are eligible for this grant. Any queries should be addressed to your local authority. If you are unsure who your local authority is, you can find out via the Governments Find your local council tool. 

If you’re a director of your own company and paid through PAYE you may be able to get support using the Job Retention Scheme.

You can find more details of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the gov.uk website

The Welsh Government has announced an Economic Resilience Fund. The £500 million fund is made up of two main elements:

• a new £100 million Development Bank of Wales fund will be available for companies experiencing cash flow problems as a result of the pandemic and will provide loans of between £5,000 and £250,000 at favourable interest rates
• businesses will also be able to benefit from a £400 million emergency pot providing:

1. Grants of £10,000 for micro-businesses employing up to nine people. This includes sole traders employing staff. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply by mid-April.
2. Grants of up to £100,000 for small and medium sized firms with between 10 and 249 employees. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply from next week.
3. Support for larger Welsh companies, which are of critical social or economic importance to Wales. This element will be open to qualifying businesses within the next two weeks.

The £500 million Economic Resilience Fund will support businesses forced to temporarily cease trading – to go into “hibernation” – or which need cash-flow support to adapt to a remote way of working.

On 23 March the Government implemented measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and save lives. All non-essential premises should now be closed. Takeaway and delivery services may remain open and operational in line with guidance on Friday 20 March. Online retail is still open and encouraged and postal and delivery service will run as normal. The Government as asking for these businesses to remian closed for a minimum of three weeks from 23 March 2020 when the restrictions will be reviewed.

The following businesses must remain closed: 

• Restaurants - food delivery and takeaway can remain operational
• Cafes and canteens - food delivery and takeaway can remain operational as can cafes or canteens at hospitals, care homes, schools, prison and military canteens and services providing food or drink to the homeless. Workplace canteens can remain open if there is no alternative option - read more about this on the gov.uk website
• Public Houses, bars and nightclubs - this includes premises located within hotels or members clubs 
• Hair, beauty and nail salons - this includes piercing and tattoo parlours, barbers, massage parlours and spas
• All retail stores - Exceptions to this are supermarkets and other food shops, medical services, pharmacies (both dispensing and non dispensing) petrol stations, bicycle shops, hardware and equipment hire stores, launderettes and dry cleaners, car garages and repair shops, car rental services, car parks Post Offices, vets and pet shops, corner shops, off-licences, and newsagents, banks, building scoeities and credit unions.
• Outdoor and indoor markets - unless they offer groceries or food
• Hotels, hostels, B&Bs, campsites as well as Boarding Houses and Caravan parks/sites for commercial use. There are exceptions for those who live in these establishments as interim or permanent residences, these can be seen in full at the gov.uk website
• Libraries
• Community centres, youth centers and similar - these may remain open for hosting essential services such as food banks or homeless services
• Places of Worship - these can remain open for funerals (with appropriate social distancing) and solitary prayer
• Cinemas, theatres and concert halls (there are some exceptions to this on the gov.uk website)
• Museums and galleries
• Auction Houses
• Bingo halls, casinos and betting shops
• Skating rinks, fitness studios, gyms, swimming pools or other indoor leisure centres (Leisure centres may stay open for blood donation sessions)
• Funfairs, arcades, bowling alleys, soft play centres and similar businesses
• Enclosed spaces in parks such as sports courts, pitches, outdoor gyms or similar

The UK and Scottish Governments have stepped up measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and save lives. All non-essential premises must now close. Takeaway and delivery services may remain open and operational in line with guidance. Online retail is still open and postal and delivery service will run as normal.

The Scottish Government is asking all individuals and businesses that are not being specifically required to close to consider a key set of questions:

• Is what you do essential or material to the effort against the virus or to the wellbeing of society?
• if so, can your staff work from home?
• if not can you practise safe social distancing and comply with ALL other standard health and safety requirements.

If the answer to none of the above questions is yes, the Scottish Government’s advice is to close.

You can read the Scottish Government’s full guidance here.

Businesses are being asked to remain closed for a minimum of three weeks from 23 March 2020 when the restrictions will be reviewed.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is looking for organisations who can support in the supply of ventilators and ventilator components across the United Kingdom as part of the Government's response to COVID-19.

If you can help with this, you can register via the gov.uk website

Help is also required with the following goods and services

• Food
• Hotel rooms for any use
• Hotel rooms for lodging
• Manufacturing equipment
• Medical Equipment - PPE, testing equipment and other uses
• Office space for any use
• Warehouse/industrial space
• Other goods

If you can help with any of the above please register via this link

The guidance from the Government is that takeaways should remain open and operational where possible 

This means people can continue to enter premises to access takeaway services (including delivery drivers). Businesses are encouraged to take orders online or by telephone, and businesses should not provide seating areas, indoors and outdoors, for customers to consume food and drink on. Ordering in advance is strongly encouraged to avoid waiting in, as per Public Health England guidelines.

People must not consume food or drinks on site at restaurants, cafés or pubs whilst waiting for takeaway food and those venues offering takeaway or delivery services must not include alcoholic beverages in this list if their license does not already permit.

If you own a pub that serves food or a restaurant in England or Scotland, you will be able to operate a hot food takeaway to serve people staying at home, without going through the usual planning process

• The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will shortly legislate to bring forward a temporary Permitted Development Right to allow for change of use from A3 (Restaurant) and A4 (Pub) to A5 (Hot Food Takeaway).
• The intention is that once the legislation has come into force a pub or restaurant will be able to notify their Local Authority that they are now operating as a takeaway without any prior approval.

Planning regulation has been changed to enable restaurants, cafés and pubs which do not currently offer delivery and hot food takeaway to do so. The legislation can be accessed online.

Firstly, you need to check your policy wording, or contact your broker to find out if you have Business Interruption cover in your commercial insurance policy.

Standard Business Interruption is provided for consequential loss of income or the additional cost of working following (mainly) physical damage to buildings and contents. Some policies extend that cover, often in a very limited way, to provide for certain events which might impact use of the premises

Once you have confirmed that you have Business Interruption cover, you will need to check whether you have an extension for “notifiable diseases” (can also be referred to as “Infectious Diseases”). This extension is not common. If the policy wording lists specified diseases covered, then you will need to ask whether COVID-19 is included. As this worldwide pandemic is now touching every business and household in the UK in some way, if you are not currently covered, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to get your policy extended to include it at this time.

Standard policies are highly unlikely to include any protection if your business suffers due to an outbreak of disease, regardless of circumstance but, it’s worth checking.

Proactive insurance considerations

As tens of thousands of workers make the change to work from home, some with new equipment, it’s important to make sure that their home insurance providers are made aware. You can reassure your workers that this will likely not impact their premiums as most home-workers will be doing clerical work.

If you normally work from premises and are now relying on deliveries/working away, you will also need to let your insurer/broker know.

If your business is sending employees home, temporarily closing or working from a reduced number of sites, you will have premises which are unexpectedly empty. Empty premises are vulnerable to a few, perhaps unexpected risks.

Your policy will likely have a clause in it to protect against your premises being empty for short periods, but since you may have to vacate the property for longer, you will need to let your Insurer/Broker know and this may involve making a mid-term adjustment on your policy.

For tips on preventing damage to unoccupied property, you can read our blog here. [https://www.fsb-insurance-service.com/fsb-insurance-service-blog/practical-advice-to-protect-unoccupied-property/]

FSB Insurance Service is a member of BIBA (British Insurance Brokers Association) who are lobbying for insurers to take an understanding view on the changes in situation for many business owners, to ensure that cover is available and changes in premium are minimal.

We hope that landlords will take a generous approach to their small business tenants, many of whom have already seen trading and footfall dip. This is particularly important in areas of high rent, such as high streets or urban centres (including London). FSB is talking to major landlords to ask them to commit to rent breaks and discounts.

The Treasury have announced that they have introduced emergency legislation through the Covid Bill in Parliament to ban evictions for commercial tenants for at least three months. All commercial tenants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be eligible and this will extend a previously-announced measure in the Covid-19 emergency legislation to ban evictions for social and private renters for three months. We are awaiting further information regarding the administartion of this scheme. 

Full guidance for landlords and tenants in the private and scoial rented sectors can be found on the gov.uk website.

The Metropolitan Police have issues guidance to businesses to help protect them from crime and anti-social behaviour at the current time. You can read the full guidance here. 

If your premises is closed, the following actions are recommended: 

• Test your alarm, ensure it is monitored and fully operational
• Identify any vulnerable areas. Rectify these. Ensure security gates, bollards and fire exit doors have been secured prior to closure of the premises.
• Ensure service doors are closed and locked when not in use.
• Make sure you have list of key holders who can be contacted in times of emergency.
• Ensure your contact details for staff are up to date.
• Consider moving high value items into secured stockrooms and out of view.
• Ensure keys to the premises or other venues are not left inside and are instead with dedicated key holders.
• Consider timer switches or ensure sufficient lighting is left on at the premises/surrounding area.
• Ensure there are no combustible materials left in the proximity of the building such as packaging - consider the risk of arson.
• Review your CCTV to confirm it is operational, provides good quality images and is positioned to cover as much of the stores public and private areas. You may wish to consider a mobile phone app that allows connectivity and a vocal capacity to engage with any intruder.
• Ensure that no cash is retained on the premises overnight (leave a note on the door) stating that no cash or valuables are kept overnight) or store then in a security accredited safe bolted to the floor.

If you want to brush up on your business securtiy basics, our blog from FSB Insurance Services, Practical advice to improve the security of your business premises is a great place to start as well as their Practical Advice to Protect Unoccupied Property

New regulations extending the restrictions are now enforceable by law in England, Wales and Scotland due to the threat to public health. 

Businesses who continue to operate in contravention of the regulations will be commiting a criminal offence. The Environmental Health and Trading Standards agencies will be monitoring compliance along with police support provided by police if appropriate. Businesses and premises that breach them will be subject to prohibition notices, and potentially unlimited fines.

The Government has temporarily suspended wrongful trading provisions retrospectively from 1 March 2020 for three months for company directors so they can keep their businesses going without the threat of personal liability.

This will enable companies to continue buying much-needed supplies, such as energy, raw materials or broadband, while attempting a rescue, and temporarily suspending wrongful trading provisions retrospectively from 1 March 2020 for three months for company directors so they can keep their businesses going without the threat of personal liability.

You can read the official release on the gov.uk website.

In England

• Expanding the 100% business rates holiday for the next 12 months to cover all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England - not just those up to £51k Rateable Value.
• Providing a £25,000 cash grant to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in smaller premises, with a Rateable Value below £51k.
• Increasing the proposed £3,000 cash grant to 700,000 small businesses (those eligible for Small Business Rate Relief) to a £10,000 cash grant. We think this will also apply for those eligible for rural rates relief.
• Estate agents, lettings agencies and bingo halls that have closed as a result of Covid-19 measures to restrict the spread of the virus will be now be exempted from business rates in 2020-21

In Scotland

• 12 months 100% relief rates holiday for businesses in hospitality, leisure and retail. Grants will also available for Scottish companies in this sector
• Providing a £25,000 grant for businesses in hospitality, leisure and retail with a rateable value between £18,000 and £51,000.
• Small firms receiving the small business bonus or rural relief will be eligible for a £10,000 grant. Businesses will be also be able to request to defer all payment.
• All non-domestic properties will get 1.6% relief, reversing the poundage change.
• You can find additional detail on the Scottish Government’s package of reliefs and grants at https://www.mygov.scot/non-domestic-rates-coronavirus/

In Northern Ireland

• 3 month rates holiday for all businesses, which effectively means a further 25% discount off your bill
• The issuing of rates bills will be deferred from April until June
• Small firms who are eligible for the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme will receive a £10,000 grant
• Providing a £25,000 grant to companies in the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors with a rateable value from £15,000 to £51,000.

In Wales

• 12 month rates relief for businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality
• £25,000 grant for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000
• Shops leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or less will receive 100% business rates relief, administered through their local authority
• Pubs with a rateable value of between £51,000 and £100,000 will receive a £5,000 reduction on their bill, administered through their local authority
• Small firms eligible for Small Business Rates relief with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will receive a £10,000 grant.
• You can find additional details on the Business Wales website - https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice

In response to the coronavirus, in the Budget on 11 March, the Government announced that it would increase the discount to 100% and extend it to include the leisure and hospitality sectors. This relief will apply to occupied retail, leisure and hospitality properties in the year 2020/21. There will be no rateable value limit on the relief.

This document provides guidance to authorities about the operation and delivery of the policy: Expanded Retail Discount 2020/21: Coronavirus Response – Local Authority Guidance

A business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England has been itroduced for the 2020 to 2021 tax year. Businesses that received the retail discount in the 2019 to 2020 tax year will be rebilled by their local authority as soon as possible.

You are eligible for the business rates holiday if your business is based in England and your business is in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector. Properties that will benefit from the relief will be occupied hereditaments that are wholly or mainly being used as: 

• shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
• for assembly and leisure
• as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation
• Estate agents, lettings agencies and bingo halls

This will apply to your next council tax bill in April 2020 and you do not need to take any action. However, local authorities may have to reissue your bill automatically to exclude the business rate charge. They will do this as soon as possible.

Further Guidance on the business rates holiday can be found in the expanded retail discount guidance.

Nurseries will receive a business rates holiday for the 2020 to 2021 tax year. Businesses must be based in England and Properties that will benefit from the relief will be those occupied by providers on Ofsted’s Early Years Register used primarily for the provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

You need to take no action. This will apply to your next council tax bill in April 2020. However, local authorities may have to reissue your bill to exclude the business rate charge. They will do this as soon as possible.

Further information on the discounts can be found in the Nursery Discount Guidance

Additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered relief has been made available. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have now released their guidance for local councils which sets out in full which businesses are eligible and the funding breakdown, you can read this in full at the gov.uk website. 

Eligible businesses are those based in England already receiving SBBR and/or RRR occupying property. 

You do not need to do anything to claim this grant, your local authority will contact you if you are eligible for this grant. Any queries should be addressed to your local authority. If you ar eunsure who your local authority is, you can find out via the Governments Find your local council tool. 

FSB has pursued similar help from Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all have launched similar help, you can read more at:

• https://www.mygov.scot/non-domestic-rates-coronavirus/
• https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice
• https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/coronavirus-rates-support-businesses

All non-domestic properties in Scotland will get a 1.6% rates relief, you do not need to apply for this relief and it will be applied to your bill by your local council.

Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will get 100% rates relief. To get this relief, a property has to be occupied. The Scottish Government are working with Scotland's 32 Councils to make sure this relief is administered in the most effective way. 

The Scottish Government opened applications for £1 billion of grant funding for Scottish businesses. These will be administered through your local council.  

Two types of grant are now available:

• a one-off £10,000 grant to small business ratepayers -(who receive the Small Business Bonus scheme or rural rates relief);
• a one-off grant of £25,000 available to retail, hospitality and leisure business ratepayers with a rateable value between £18,001 and £50,999.

To apply for these grants find your local council website here.

Further information about the businesses and proprties able to claim this assistance can be found via Help with non-domestic rates in Scotland during coronavirus (COVID-19)

HMRC have scaled up their Time to Pay offer to all firms and individuals who are in temporary financial distress as a result of COVID-19 and have outstanding tax liabilities. If you think you or your business is eligible for support through Time to Pay, you can call the following helpline number to get practical help and advice on 0800 0159 559.

Arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities. For more information, please check the HMRC site here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tax-helpline-to-support-businesses-affected-by-coronavirus-covid-19.

VAT has been deferred for the next quarter (these payments can now be paid at the end of the financial year) 

This is an automatic offer with no applications required. Businesses will not need to make a VAT payment during this period. Taxpayers will be given until the end of the 2020 to 2021 tax year to pay any liabilities that have accumulated during the deferral period. VAT refunds and reclaims will be paid by the government as normal.

Customers who normally pay by direct debit should cancel their direct debit with their bank if they are unable to pay. Please do so in sufficient time so that HMRC do not attempt to automatically collect on receipt of your VAT return.

If you are self-employed you are eligible and this is an automatic offer with no applications required.

No penalties or interest for late payment will be charged in the deferral period.

This information is taken from the publication "How to access government financial support if you or your business has been affected by COVID-19" click here to read the full document

UK based Small-and medium-sized businesses (who employ less than 250 people as of 28 February 2020) are able to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19. The eligibility criteria for the scheme will be as follows:

• This refund will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19
• Employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible - the size of an employer will be determined by the number of people they employed as of 28 February 2020
• Employers will be able to reclaim expenditure for any employee who has claimed SSP (according to the new eligibility criteria) as a result of COVID-19
• Employers should maintain records of staff absences and payments of SSP, but employees will not need to provide a GP fit note. If evidence is required by an employer, those with symptoms of coronavirus can get an isolation note from NHS 111 online and those who live with someone that has symptoms can get a note from the NHS website
• Eligible period for the scheme will commence the day after the regulations on the extension of SSP to those staying at home comes into force
• The government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible

This scheme is being currently being devloped and we will update once the details have been confirmed. 

Small employers with a National Insurance bill of £100,000 or less will continue to qualify for the Employment Allowance.

This will be expanded from April to £4,000 per small business, enough, for example, to fund the National Insurance employer contributions in total for four employees on the National Living Wage.

In your payroll software, to claim this make sure put ‘Yes’ in the ‘Employment Allowance indicator’ field next time you send an Employment Payment Summary (EPS) to HMRC. For those without software that use HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools, on the home page make sure you amend your employer details to include ‘Yes’ in the ‘Employment Allowance indicator’ field.

Talk to your bank about financial help if needed, to tide you over if your business gets into difficulty. FSB is asking banks to have a presumptive ‘yes’ when an otherwise viable small business goes to them in distress.

The UK Government and Bank of England have made billions of pounds available for domestic banks across the UK to help small businesses in this position through the The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for SMEs.

In addition to considering new overdraft facilities, banks and finance providers should also be lenient on things like loan repayments. We hope also that they will agree to mortgage holidays for commercial as well as residential premises. You’ll have seen the Bank of England cut interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25%.

The Development Bank of Wales is currently offering all business customers a 3 month capital loan repayment holiday. More information can be found here: https://developmentbank.wales/coronavirus-support-welsh-businesses

We have asked large businesses to pay any invoices owed to small businesses, immediately upon receipt of the invoice. And if they hold an invoice now, the finance team should be asked to pay it, immediately. Morrisons supermarket have led the way, paying 3,000 suppliers instantly, regardless of payment period.

Small businesses or the self-employed with invoices issued should use this moment to chase for instant payment. You should also immediately issue invoices for work done, so they can be processed while finance teams in large businesses are operating. This isn’t just for large customers; everyone should be encouraged to pay an invoice, immediately.

You can find more information and resources to help with late paymenrs in our Get Paid on Time hub.

Each Government has set up business support helplines, some dedicated to coronavirus.

• The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has launched a dedicated business support helpline, where small business owners in England can get advice on how to minimise/cope with the impacts of coronavirus. The number is 0300 456 3565. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. You can also email [email protected].
• The Scottish Government has set up a dedicated coronavirus helpline for business through Scottish Enterprise. The number is 0300 303 0660. Lines are opne from Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm.
• In Wales, the Business Wales Helpline is 0300 060 3000. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm.
• In Northern Ireland, the NI Business Info phone number is 0800 181 4422. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm.

£500m has been allocated for local authorities to help vulnerable people, we hope to make sure this includes help for the self-employed in distress, as well as small firms.

This is likely to be the focus of help for local businesses, so FSB is actively pressing for any details on this. No details are yet available. We expect this shortly, perhaps as part of the emergency legislation announcement planned later this week.

It is worth approaching your local authority to check on what they are planning, and your local FSB, who may already know.

We hope that landlords will take a generous approach to their small business tenants, many of whom have already seen trading and footfall dip. This is particularly important in areas of high rent, such as high streets or urban centres (including London). FSB is talking to major landlords to ask them to commit to rent breaks and discounts.

The Treasury have announced that they have introduced emergency legislation through the Covid Bill in Parliament to ban evictions for commercial tenants for at least three months. All commercial tenants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be eligible and this will extend a previously-announced measure in the Covid-19 emergency legislation to ban evictions for social and private renters for three months. We are awaiting further information regarding the administartion of this scheme. 

You can use your membership of your business group or trade union (if you’re self-employed) to see what benefits they provide that could help. At FSB, our website help on coronavirus is open for all small businesses and the self-employed, and includes a lot of detailed advice and guidance that is constantly updated – head to www.fsb.org.uk

FSB members also have access to provider services that could be crucial for your business at this critical time, such as:

• A 24/7 legal advice helpline staffed by UK-based lawyers, on 03450 727 727 (please have your membership number to hand)
• Our FSB Care service providing practical advice and emotional support from a dedicated nurse for chronic physical or mental health conditions, disability or bereavement. If your concerns relate to any of these areas then please call 0808 20 20 888, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. However, if you feel that you need urgent medical attention telephone your GP or 111.
• An insurance advice helpline, a business continuity planning toolkit, and other help – such as how to check your current insurance policies for a ‘notifiable disease’, on 020 3883 7976 Monday to Friday, 9am-5.30pm
• Unsecured Cash Advance for instant help, and a Funding Platform to access finance - read more here 
• For help, FSB’s Customer Services Team is available on 0808 20 20 888, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

As a small business owner or self-employed, it is very important for you to keep in touch at a time of crisis with others in your sector, in your locality, and in your local FSB. This is useful as you share experiences on your plans to protect your business.

This is a fast-moving issue, with more detail emerging by the day, and sometimes faster. So please follow FSB’s social media channels and especially on Twitter - our UK accounts are @fsb_policy, and @fsb_voice; our national accounts are @fsb_scotland, @fsb_wales and @fsb_NI, and every FSB England Region also has an account to follow for any region-specific guidance. This way you will stay connected, get the latest and can share your plans, ideas and support.

It may be worth bookmarking on your computer the official page of guidance from the UK Government, for businesses.