On Saturday (31st October), the government announced that the United Kingdom would be going into lockdown from Thursday 5th November, for a period of 4 weeks, until Wednesday 2nd December.

To facilitate the mandatory closure of all non-essential businesses, additional financial measures have been introduced, which will be detailed below.
Retailers providing essential goods, such as supermarkets, garden centres and certain other retailer can remain open to the public.
Non-essential retail can remain open for delivery to customers and click and collect.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Extended

The original furlough scheme has been extended from the end of November to the end of March 2021, benefiting those employed and paid via payroll, with 80% of pay from the Government for the hours they are unable to work.

Employer will be responsible for the payment of Employer NI and Pension Contributions for all employee hours (worked and not worked).

The scheme will follow largely the same rules as back in August.
Crucially, employees which have not previously been furloughed, can be included in the extended scheme, and employers who have not previously claimed furlough can also claim under the extended scheme.

Under the extended scheme, the Government will pay 80% of employee wages for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 (gross).
This payment must be passed on to the employee in full.
It is at the employer discretion if they wish to top up the wage to the employee to 100%.

The employer will be responsible for paying the employer NIC and employer pension contributions.

Employers will be allowed to operate a flexible furlough with staff.

To be eligible to claim, the following criteria must be met:

Employers

• Have a UK bank account, and operate a UK PAYE scheme
• Not be a publicly funded organisation

Employees

• Must be on the PAYE payroll by 30th October 2020, with their payroll information being submitted before midnight on this date

An updated system is being implemented, and we will inform you when it is possible to make the first claim.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Job Retention) Bonus Scheme CJRB(JR)B
This scheme was meant to provide employers with £1000 for each employee brought back to the business.

This scheme has been deferred indefinitely and we will update you if and when the Government provides further update on this

Job Support Scheme – Deferred
The job support scheme which was due to come into effect from 1st November 2020, has been deferred until December 2020.

Additional guidance will be provided upon update from the Government

Business Grants
For businesses who have a commercial business rates statement, that are required to close due to the lockdown in England will be eligible for the following:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
• For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.

Local councils have been placed in charge of these so you should contact them if you think you may be eligible.

Mortgage Holidays
Borrowers who have been impacted by coronavirus, and who have not already had a mortgage payment holiday, will be entitled to claim for a 6-month mortgage holiday.

For borrowers who have already started a mortgage payment holiday, they will be able to top up, up to six months, and this will not be recorded on their credit file.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Extended Again
The furlough scheme has been extended from the end of November to the end of March 2021, benefiting those employed and paid via payroll, with 80% of pay from the Government for the hours they are unable to work.

Employer will be responsible for the payment of Employer NI and Pension Contributions for all employee hours (worked and not worked).

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Job Retention) Bonus Scheme CJRB(JR)B
This scheme was meant to provide employers with £1000 for each employee brought back to the business.

This has been scrapped and is not likely to be brought back.

Job Support Scheme
This scheme has been deferred indefinitely and we will update you if and when the Government provides further update on this

Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Revised
This has been tweaked again, although the eligibly rules remain the same as when the scheme was first introduced in March earlier this year:

• at least 50% of your total income generated from self-employment
• submitted your Tax Return for 2018/19 by 23rd April 2020
• profits of less than £50,000 in 2018/19
• continued to trade during tax year 2019/20
• full intention to continue trading in 2020/21
• been adversely affected by coronavirus
• been eligible to claim SEISS grants 1 and 2 (although you need not actually have made the claim)

Under the revised rules, the overall level of the grant is equivalent to 80% of trading profits covering November to January.

It is calculated based on 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500.
Further details about all announcements can be found here

Should you have any questions about any of the above schemes, how they will operation, and how they will affect you, please do get in touch with us.