In light of the ever-changing situation around Covid-19, we wanted to share with you what support and help there is available.
The whole team is now working from home
We have undertaken remote working for some time, so this is nothing new to us.
All team members have remote access to our office servers and telephone lines will be open as usual.
Should your call go through to voicemail, please leave us a message, we will return your call.
If you need to drop something into the office, please call 020 8647 0297 before you leave to make sure there will be someone in to meet you.
All meetings going forward will be moved to the telephone or Zoom. We’ll ask what you prefer when we book the appointment.
Stay up-to-date
We will be issuing daily updates to any Government financial action, as soon as we have digested it.
What can you do?
Contact your bank – either your dedicated manager if you have one or your business call centre, to discuss your options should you need a new or increased overdraft limit, asset finance, credit cards or other forms of temporary finance
Other potential funding sources – please note these are only a few of the options available to you and these do not form a recommendation by MDH;
Capital On Tap – https://www.capitalontap.com/en/
Funding Circle – https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/
Iwoca – https://www.iwoca.co.uk/
NatWest Rapid Cash – https://rapidcash.natwest.com/
Satago – https://www.satago.com/
Turning now to the Government support…
In the Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced that a ‘Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme’ (CBILS) will temporarily replace the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG), becoming available over the coming weeks.
It will operate in a similar way to EFG and be provided by the British Business Bank, but will offer more attractive terms for both businesses and lenders, with the aim of supporting the continued provision of finance to UK businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.
As it stands, we do not know any more than this. More information will be available in the coming days and weeks.
HMRC Time to Pay
HMRC have launched a helpline to help businesses concerned about paying their tax due to coronavirus (COVID-19). Again, this appears to be a “work in progress”. You will find more details below, but if you have any concerns about making payment to the tax authorities, please call us immediately.
Official guidance for employers
For HMRC’s guidance for employers, please follow the link below:-https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-on-covid-19
Statutory Sick Pay SSP Support
To support businesses experiencing increases in costs or financial disruptions:-
The government will bring forward legislation to allow small and medium-sized businesses and employers to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19.
The eligibility criteria for the scheme will be as follows:
– This refund will cover up to two weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19. Employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible.
– The size of an employer will be determined by the number of people they employed as of 28 February 2020. Employers will be able to reclaim expenditure for any employee who has claimed SSP (according to the new eligibility criteria) as a result of COVID-19.
– Employers should maintain records of staff absences, but employees will not need to provide a GP fit note.
– The eligible period for the scheme will commence the day after the regulations on the extension of Statutory Sick Pay to self-isolators comes into force.
– The government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible. Existing systems are not designed to facilitate employer refunds for SSP.
The information above has been taken from the following Source:-
Again, it is unclear how this will be organised and how quickly the payroll software will catch up with the situation.
MDH are here to help
We are more than happy to discuss your individual circumstances and advise on the best way forward.
We appreciate these are unprecedented and challenging times to be in business and we all face a period of uncertainty. No one can predict the future but we believe we can all pull together as businesses and support each other.
The MDH team are here to help you. If you need a sounding board, some advice or a steer in the right direction, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
