The Chancellor has now announced a further package of support for people and businesses dealing with COVID-19 amounting to a total of £330 billion of guarantees.
The provisions cover access to cash for any business that needs working capital to pay rent, wages, suppliers and to purchase stock etc. For SME’s the business interruption loan scheme is extended from the initial level of £1.2 million to a maximum of £5 million per loan with six months interest free – this should be up and running from the start of next week.
The second element of the support will be with cash-flow and fixed costs. In particular in the retail, hospitality, leisure and retail sectors, the strain has been noted and where a business has no insurance cover for pandemics, further assistance is available. The exemption from paying business rates for a period of 12 months where there is a rateable value of less than £51,000, will be extended to cover businesses in those sectors regardless of their rateable value. In addition there will now be access to a cash grant of up to £25,000 per business in these sectors.
Cash grants for small business originally announced at a level of £3,000 have now been increased to £10,000
Finally a specific measure to support people and individuals – mortgage lenders will be offering those in difficulty due to coronavirus a three months mortgage holiday.
And there is more to come which we will provide updates on as and when available.
Please read our earlier updates here.
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