Wirral Life May 2020 | Page 26

COVID-19 BUSINESS SUPPORT By Paul White, Managing Director of APH Accountants Ever since Mid-March the government have released one measure after another to prop up the economy. Under immense pressure to avert an economic disaster, they seem to be delivering on their financial promises. Business Rates Cash Grant (BRCG) The portal for this opened with Wirral Council on the 30th March a mere two weeks after the announcement of this support and money was hitting client’s accounts within 48 hours. This was life saving for many businesses especially in the retail, leisure and hospitality sector who were coming to a grinding halt as we entered the second week of the lockdown. Top-up to local business grant funds scheme Once the government realised that a number of businesses had missed out on the BRCG they introduced a further scheme aimed at businesses who shared office space or were market traders etc. This will be a discretionary fund controlled by local councils with a remit and the discretion to help any business based on local economic need. This should be open any day soon. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) They have provided support to millions of employees nationwide and saved potentially millions of jobs in the process. The scheme was set up and put in place by mid-April, a mere 4 weeks after it was announced. Money was hitting client accounts within 5 days of making a claim. Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) Because the uptake this was so poor and it was inherent with difficulties, the government stepped in again at the end of April and introduced the Coronavirus Business Bounce Back Loan (CBBL). The portal for this opened a week later, the application process is less than 10 minutes and incredibly money was hitting some clients accounts the same day in some instances, providing a vital and much needed lifeline for businesses. Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) The portal for this opened on the 13th May and claims will hit the millions with payouts promised early June or maybe sooner. Unfortunately, HMRC are insisting that the individual taxpayer must apply for this rather than letting their Accountants take care of the process for them. This seems to be the last of the major support packages to be rolled out and hopefully it goes as smoothly as some of the ones mentioned above. 26 wirrallife.com Other measures include recovering Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-19 related sickness, Deferral of Vat Liabilities to 31.03.21, Deferral of Second Payments on Account for those in the Self-Assessment regime, Business Rates Relief for those in the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality sector and finally offered further help with Time to Pay arrangements almost automatically granting three month extensions to anyone in financial difficulty due to the Coronavirus. As varied and wide ranging as these measures are unfortunately not every single person has been catered for. Small Limited Company Directors on low pay have suffered, anyone self-employed after the 6th April 2019 have also been missed. Landlords are suffering if tenants are struggling to pay, (though most mortgage providers have offered 3-month payment holidays). Universal credits have helped some of those missed out but certainly not all. At APH we took the decision not to charge any client for furlough claims or any kind of support in relation to Covid-19 Business Support packages announced by the Government. It was our mission to help as many businesses survive through this pandemic as much as possible without adding to their problems. The Governments package of measures run into the tens of billions of pounds and are currently propping up a floundering economy. What has impressed me the most despite some missing out, is the scale and speed of how HMRC and other bodies have responded and put systems in place even when we were waiting for the laws, rules and regulations to catch up! Couple that with how quickly a cash starved economy started receiving the money then it’s a remarkable achievement in such a short space of time. It’s not often I commend HMRC, they are often portrayed as the pantomime villain with business owners and Accountants, but it is one hell of an achievement what they have done. The way forward is still unclear at the time of writing and I am sure, in the not too distant future, that Government borrowing to fund the above financial measures will flow through into the tax system. However, the Bounce Back Loans are designed to help us bounce back, and bounce back we will.