Covid 19 - Financial Support Measures
H. M. Government (“HMG”) initiated a range of measures to help relieve some of the damage caused to normal business operations by Covid-19, designed to assist small businesses (self-employed and personal service companies) and medium/large companies.
Some of these measures are listed below with links to relevant HMG webpage or other document. There is also an online tool on an HMG webpage here for businesses to see what financial support was available to them during the coronavirus pandemic. Since most of these support measures are no longer current, the following list serves as no more than a brief record of support measures that were available.
Employers/Employees/Self-Employed/PSCs
Claim back statutory sick pay (for those who had staff): here .
Claim back wages paid to staff on furlough: here.
Universal Credit if you were on low income or had no work: HMG pages here
Grants
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme : Simply Docs Info page here.
Small Business Grants Fund and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.
Tax, VAT
Deferral of VAT: here.
Deferral of self-assessment tax: here.
Business rates relief for certain types of business: here.
Loans
Bounce Back Loan Scheme for small businesses to access finance more quickly.
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Convertible loans between £125,000 to £5 million to innovative companies.
Covid Corporate Financing Facility to help large businesses by purchase of their short-term debt.
Commercial tenants
Since tenants were under pressure from some landlords using aggressive debt recovery tactics, HMG legislated to restrict landlords' rights to recover unpaid rent from commercial tenants and from eviction for unpaid rent. The current position is set out in H M Government's Code of Practice which you can see here.
Mortgage Holidays for Landlords
Mortgage lenders agreed with HMG that they would offer repayment holidays of 3 months to landlords with mortgages on their properties (typically buy to let) whose tenants, due to COVID-19, had difficulty paying their rent.
Emergency Insolvency Measures
Measures to protect businesses were included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 to give them additional breathing space and maximise their chances of survival. To see how these measures were amended by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Amendment of Schedule 10) Regulations 2021, click here.
Debt recovery/debt relief
The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 came into effect on 4 May 2021. These Regulations were designed to protect certain consumer or sole trader debtors with problem debt. H M Government's Guidance on the subject is here. An outline of the subject at Appx B of our Guidance Notes on Debt Recovery and Legal Action is here.