Coronavirus business support finder tool launched by the government
23 April 2020
A new ‘support finder’ tool has been launched online, which will assist businesses and self-employed people within the UK to swiftly establish what financial support is available to them during the COVID-19 crisis.
The online service provides a simple questionnaire which will take business owners less than a minute to complete, and will direct them to the government financial support measure(s) that they may be eligible for, and that are most appropriate to their circumstances and needs.
A press release confirmed that Alok Sharma, Business Secretary, said:
“Businesses of all shapes and sizes play a vital role in our economy, which is why we want to make it as easy as possible for all of them to access our wide-ranging package of financial support during this challenging time.
This online questionnaire takes just minutes to complete and will quickly signpost a business to the loans, grants or other schemes they could be eligible for.”
Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
“We’ve launched an unprecedented package of support to protect jobs, businesses and incomes during these challenging times.
Millions are already benefitting, and this new online tool will allow firms and individuals to identify what help they are entitled to in a matter of minutes.
We are doing everything we can to make our support as accessible and as easy to navigate as possible.”
The government has announced a large range of measures, implemented to support businesses, workers and the self-employed through the coronavirus outbreak, and they include the following:
- £330 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) which will pay 80% of the wages of furloughed workers, up to a monthly cap of £2,500
- The deferral of the next quarter of VAT payments for firms, until the end of June
- £20 billion in tax relief and cash grants to help businesses with cash flow
- The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for SMEs and larger businesses
- Covering the cost of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), for up to two weeks’ worth of coronavirus-related absence for eligible employees for businesses with less than 250 staff
- Business rates temporarily removed from all eligible properties in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors
- The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), offering a taxable grant of 80% of trading profits up to a monthly cap of £2,500
- The deferral of Self-Assessment payments due in July 2020 until 31 January 2021
- Allowing companies who must hold AGMs to conduct them online, or to postpone them
- The suspension of wrongful trading provisions for company directors to remove the threat of personal liability during the pandemic
- A three-month extension for filing accounts to businesses impacted by coronavirus
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.