You cannot escape the concern around the Coronavirus outbreak. For many small businesses, any disruption can be costly – and at worst the result could be closure.

To help reassure businesses in these difficult times, the government has announced a £350 billion package.

Coronavirus business interruption loan

It has been announced that the British Business Ban is delivering the coronavirus business interruption loan to certain businesses.

To qualify for a loan of up to £5 million, the turnover of your business must be less than £41 million.

You can access the loan if you are within an eligible business sector and have not received De Minimis State Aid beyond €200,000 over the previous 2 fiscal periods

The first 6 months of the loan will be interest-free as the government will cover the interest.

The government will cover up to 80% of any losses without fees. The Chancellor said that the loans will be available to any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent, the salaries, suppliers, or purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan, on attractive terms.

Smallest businesses

The smaller businesses will be able to access a £10,000 cash grant. This will be available to 700,000 of the smallest businesses and is delivered by local authorities. Councils will be contacting businesses who qualify and there will be no application procedure.

Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses

There will be a 12-month business rate holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in.

There will be grants of up to £25,000 for those businesses operating from smaller premises with a rateable value over £15,000 and below £51,000.

Statutory sick pay and small business

One of the issues of Coronavirus is that staff will require statutory sick pay. To ease the burden, the government has guaranteed that it will refund business owners with fewer than 250 employees the cost of providing 14 days’ SSP employee.

Details will be provided by HMRC in due course on how employers can access the rebate in due course.

HMRC helpline

A dedicated helpline for businesses and the self-employed in financial stress and with outstanding tax liabilities has been set up.

Through this affected individuals will receive support with their tax affairs and you may be able to agree a bespoke ‘Time to Pay’ arrangement. Contact the dedicated helpline on 0800 0159 559 if you are unable to pay your tax.

Companies House

Here are the links you need if you should need to contact Companies House:

• File your accounts
• File your confirmation statement (annual return)
• Make changes to your limited company

If you wish to contact Companies House, it has been announced that staff are working normal hours unless the situation changes.

Filing accounts on time

File your accounts online if you are able to and always make sure you file on time.

Should Coronavirus affect filing your accounts, make an application to extend the period allowed. If you do not and your accounts are late, an automatic penalty will be issued.

With the ever-changing nature of the situation, we will continue to scrutinise the latest advice from government to small businesses.

If you have any concerns or need advice you can contact us via email or Direct Message us on Facebook or via Twitter. We monitor these and will get back to you, just please bear with us.

We believe in keeping in contact with our clients, and we will keep you updated on social media and via our website.