04 Jan January 2021 – Business Support Summary

Back to work and back to lock down.  Over the Christmas period the majority of the North of England moved into Tier 3 and Tier 4 restrictions. 

Here is a summary of the support available for individuals and businesses:

Grants for Affected Businesses

If your business has been forced to close as a result of the tier changes, then you might be eligible to claim the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) from your local council for up to £1,500 for every 14-day period that you are closed.

This includes business that have been unable to provide its usual “in-person customer service” from its premises – so for example, Cafes that generate their primary income from eat-in services but have been forced to close and adapt to provide takeaway services only, this applies to you too.

How much you will receive…

As before, the amount that you will receive as a cash grant will be based on the rateable value of your business premise and will be payable per premise (not per business).

The amounts are:-

The grants will be assessed per every 14-day cycle. If you are forced to close for less than 14 days then you will not be entitled to this grant.

Note also that you will only be eligible for this grant if your business is required to close due to Tier restrictions – not if you have made the choice to close when this hasn’t been imposed.

There is also a £1,000 Christmas grant for ‘wet-led’ pubs, for those that predominantly serve alcohol rather than food.  This is a self declaration by the landlord and you apply via your local council. 

What if you don’t pay your business premise rates…

There is an Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) available for businesses that have been severely impacted by the ongoing restrictions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Every local council will have their own discretionary fund to distribute grants to businesses without business premises who have been severely affected.

You should keep checking your local councils website for details. 

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Extension April 2021

The Job Support Scheme is being postponed indefinitely and the furlough scheme will now continue until 30 April 2021.

Employees will receive 80% of their current salary, up to £2,500 per month. The employer must pay all of the employer’s national insurance and employer’s minimum workplace pension contribution for hours not worked.

Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously claimed or have been claimed for under CJRS to make a claim under the extended CJRS (if other eligibility criteria are met).

An employer can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.

Employees that were employed and on the payroll on 23 September 2020 (the day before the Job Support Scheme announcement) who were made redundant or stopped working afterwards can be re-employed and claimed for. In this case, the employer must have made an RTI submission to HMRC from 20 March 2020 to 23 September 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for those employees.

NEW Claims Submission Deadline*

Claims from 1 November 2020 MUST be submitted by 11:59 pm 14 calendar days after the month you’re claiming for. If this time falls on the weekend then claims should be submitted on the next working day. All subsequent months’ claims will have the same 14 calendar day deadline.

In January CJRS will be reviewed to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more.

HMRC will be publishing the employer names and for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), the company registration number of those who have made claims under the extended CJRS scheme for the month of December onwards.

SEISS Third Round

You have until 29 January 2021 to apply for the third self employed income support scheme.

Eligibility for the third SEISS grant is different from the first two round.  To be eligible to claim for the third SEISS grant, you’ll need to fulfil the following criteria:

• Your business must have had a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and the end of January 2021, which you believe WILL cause a “significant reduction” in trading profits in this same period.   This can be for one of two reasons – either because of  “reduced demand, activity or capacity” OR you’re temporarily unable to trade. Importantly, you wouldn’t be eligible for this third grant if the impact between 1 November 2020 and the end of January 2021 was not significant, even if you suffered a significant reduction in profits due to problems over other periods in the year 
• You must intend to continue to trade
• You must have filed a tax return for 2018/19
• You must earn at least 50% of your total income from self-employment
• Your average trading profit must be less than £50,000/year
• You can keep working if you claim the grant. Though you need to declare your business has been impacted for the period you’re claiming for. HMRC will check for fraudulent claims
• You don’t need to have applied for an earlier grant to get the others