Rishi Sunak has just finished his speech and announcements of the next raft of support for small businesses.
I've put the headlines below. I haven't yet had chance to view the full details of each support measure, but as I do, I'll send out another update
Job Retention Scheme
The Chancellor announced his intention to support "viable jobs" in small businesses (great news!)
There will be a new Job Support Scheme to replace the current furlough scheme. The scheme will start on the 1st November and will continue for 6 months
To be eligible, employees must work a minimum of 33% of their normal hours and be paid as normal
The employer will then make up the wages for 1/3 of the time not worked
The Government will also pay wages for 1/3 of the hours not worked
That means.......
An employee who normally works 100 hours, now works 33 hours
That's 67 hours not worked
The employer pays for 1/3 of those hours (67 hours x 1/3) = 22 hours
The government does the same
The employee now gets 77% of their wage
33 hours worked
22 hours paid by the employer
22 hours paid by the Government
Total = 77 hours
(I'll do a better explanation of this on a video later!!)
As with furlough, there will be caps in payment levels
Deferred VAT Payments
If you previously deferred your VAT payments to 31st march 2021, you will now not need to make a lump sum repayment.
You will now be able to split the repayment into 11 interest free repayments from March 2021
Fab news!!!
CBILS/ Bounce Back Loans
Loan repayment terms will now be extended from 6 years to 10 years, halving the average monthly repayment
There will be availability for a payment holiday or just making interest only payments if a business is in "real trouble" for up to six months (I've no idea on the definition of real trouble yet)
Your credit rating will not be affected by taking advantage of this offer
There will also be a new loan scheme announced in January
5% VAT on Hospitality
The 5% VAT rate on hospitality was due to run out in January. This now will be extended to 31st March
Income Tax
There's an announcement that personal tax bills will be able to made on a payment plan between January 21 and January 22.
Bills will still need to be paid (including any deferred in July), but this move removes the pressure from January
