There are testing times ahead and the first thing we would like to do is to let you know that we are here for you. We understand that as a small business, things are looking very uncertain at the moment. Up to now, we have refrained from sending an email to all our clients mainly due to the situation changing on a daily basis.
So why are we communicating now?
We started home working on Tuesday this week. All four of us are working from home now for the foreseeable future.
What are we doing to help with the mental wellbeing of our employees?
We have been using Slack (we are simply using the free plan) and we are finding that this is a good way to keep in contact with each other, ask those easy to answer questions that would have been asked across the office previously.
We are also having a 9am huddle, we want to kick off the day with our employees in a way that allows them to have a routine. Home working for a long period of time can be very lonely and very difficult to have a detachment between personal life and working life.
At 11am each day, we will be downling tools and having a video conference. This is in no way work related and a chance for us as a team to have some social interaction with each other. The only rules are "No work conversation". We are calling this our elevenses.
At 14:30 for around 15 minutes, we will be having another video conference, again no work just for everyone to chat. We are calling this Tiffin Time.
Ok, that's great for you. What about my business?
I am sure you have seen that there is support available from the government by way of grants and loans. So here is the lowdown as we understand it at present:
1) Grants to Small Businesses - Earlier in the week, the government announced a cash grant that would be available to small businesses of £3000. The very next day, this was increased to £10,000. We have been waiting to see how this is going to work and who will be able to claim this. Documentation from HMRC has now been published that shows this will be a grant that the local authority will distribute directly to businesses. There will be now claim process (this may change), it will be a 'push' cash grant made by the local authority:
"If your business is eligible for SBRR or rural rate relief, you will be contacted by your local authority – you do not need to apply."
What we haven't been able to ascertain with this is whether its a case that the business qualifies for SBRR or does the business actually need to be claiming it. We will endeavour to source the answer to that question.
2) Grants to Hospitality, Leisure and Retail - As part of the measures for small businesses, the announcement earlier this week was that organisations in these sectors would get a rates holiday for a year if the rateable value of the premises is between £12k and £51K. So, this has also changed. All businesses in the Hospitality, Leisure and Retail sector will get a "Rates holiday" for the next 12 months. There will also be an enhanced cash grant for the businesses in this sector of £25,000 for business with a rateable value of between £15k and £51k.
3) Support for employees - Under the SSP rules, there would be three waiting days and then SSP would start on the 4th day. The government has now removed the need for waiting days and SSP is now available from day 1. The reclaim of SSP from the government was scrapped in 2014. However, announced this week SSP will be recoverable from the government.
4) Loans - The government has set up an 80% government backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). This will allow businesses to borrow at sensible rates and is reducing the risk for lenders to increase their lending.
5) HMRC - A dedicated helpline has been set up by HMRC for situations where payments cannot be made. This covers all taxes and HMRC are able to negotiate time to pay arrangements through this line. HMRC state:
"If you are concerned about being able to pay your tax due to COVID-19, call HMRC’s dedicated helpline on 0800 0159 559."
6) IR35 - The new rules surrounding IR35 due to be implemented on the 1st April have been delayed for 12 months.
7) Companies House - "If, immediately before the filing deadline, it becomes apparent that accounts will not be filed on time due to your company being affected by COVID-19, you may make an application to extend the period allowed for filing."
Links:
HMRC:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses
Companies House:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-guidance-for-companies-house-customers-employees-and-suppliers
So, why are we announcing all this?
Well, we want to help our clients. We want to do our bit to support.
However, we need to be in dialogue with you to help you. So, we have set up a helpdesk especially for issues surrounding Covid-19:
covid19@tmtaccounting.atlassian.net
Please get in touch. We can all get through this and we can plan for any situation with you. You are not on your own, we are there with you through these uncertain times. Just let us know what you need help with.
Kieron, Ben, Laura and Adam