With the latest announcement
and ever-changing forms of support, it looks like the Government have given in
to the pressure and will continue with the furlough of 80%. The furlough scheme
also known as the job retention scheme is to last until March 2021. This is to
support businesses with the cost of employees’ wages as it seems likely to be
in and out of a ‘firebreak’ lockdown.
Coronavirus job
retention scheme
This
is like the original scheme when it started up back in March. The scheme
contributes the wages of people who cannot do their jobs, either because their
workplace is closed, or because there is no longer enough work for them.
About
10 million jobs have already been claimed for, with an estimated two million
people still on furlough at the end of October.
The
government will pay 80% of salary for any unworked hours, capped up £2,500 per
month, with employers responsible to pay pension and National Insurance
contribution. If staff are on furlough, they cannot undertake any work for you.
Any work done by staff, will then be the responsibility of you paying 100% for
hours worked.
Rishi
Sunak, the chancellor said the furlough extension meant the plans to pay a
£1,000 job retention bonus to companies for every furloughed staff member they
kept on until the end of January would now be scrapped.
Support
for the Self-Employed
Support
for the self-employed will also be increased for November to January to a
similar level as the furlough scheme. So, the grant will cover 80% of profits up
to a total limit of £7,500. Please note that this grant will be treated as
income, and tax implications will apply.
Applications
will be open from 30 November 2020 for those who are eligible and have been
affected by coronavirus. The government's original plan was for this third
grant to only cover 40% of average monthly trading profits, with a limit of
£3,750 in total. This was then updated to cover 55% of trading profits, but
just a few days later was extended again to 80%.
Economic
Resilience Fund
These
packages of support are designed to cover as much of the Welsh Economy as
possible and are mainly focused around providing financial support for
businesses.
There
are two types of fund available. You will have to choose the correct one that
applies to you.
Lockdown
Non-Domestic Rate Grant
Grant 1
Business can get a grant of £5,000 for retail, leisure and
hospitality businesses that have been forced to close and occupy properties
with a rateable value of between £12,001 and £51,000.
Grant 2
A grant of £1,000 is being made available to ALL businesses
eligible for small business rates relief in Wales with a rateable value of up
to £12,000
• Businesses eligible for small business
rates relief that have been subject to local restrictions for 3 weeks or more
and have been materially impacted (>50% reduction in turnover) up to the
23rd October will be eligible for a further grant of £1,000
• and a discretionary enhanced £2,000
top-up grant will be made available on an application basis for those
businesses with a rateable value of £12,000 or less who are forced to close by
the firebreak lockdown.
You are not
eligible for the Lockdown Non-Domestic Rate Grant
if, you are eligible for, or have received, the Lockdown Discretionary Grant
from your Local Authority.
The second of the fund is the Lockdown Discretionary
Grant.
Lockdown
Discretionary Grant
Grant amount 1
A discretionary grant of £1,500 is available to
assist businesses that have:
• Been forced to close as a result of the
national firebreak lockdown
• OR are able to
demonstrate that the national firebreak lockdown will result in at least a 80%
reduction in their turnover for that period
Grant amount 2
a
discretionary grant of £2,000 is available to
assist businesses that have:
• Been
forced to close as a result of the national firebreak lockdown
• OR are able to demonstrate that the national
firebreak lockdown will result in at least a 80% reduction in their turnover
for that period
AND
have been subject to local restrictions for 3 weeks
or more up to the 23rd October and experienced at least a 50% reduction in
their turnover for that period.
You cannot apply for both Grant 1 and Grant 2.
You are not
eligible for the Lockdown Discretionary Grant if you are
eligible for, or have received, the Lockdown Non-Domestic Rate Grant from your
Local Authority, if you have 50 or more employees and If the business generated
less than 50% of your income, the business must be your main source of income.
The grant will be open to applications from the timeframe
of 28th October to 20th November 2020 or when the fund is fully
committed.
The Local Authority will deal with applications on a
first come first served basis. This may lead to applications not being
appraised after they have been submitted if the fund is fully committed.
The Local Authority aim to process grant within 30
days of receiving the application. If your application is unsuccessful, you
will receive an email outlining the reasons for rejection. There unfortunately is
no appeal process available if unsuccessful.
