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A snapshot of financial help available during uncertain times for us all

  • April 15, 2020
  • by Sue Stephenson, finance and corporate services director, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
A snapshot of financial help available during uncertain times for us all

We are living through a period of uncertainty with the scale of disruption unlike anything seen since the 2nd world war.

While the threat to life is evident, and many changes have been put in place to try and mitigate this, the economic threat to our business community and many people’s livelihoods is also very grave.

Cash is king and it is the life blood of any business, and with many losing their income streams overnight it is a serious issue.

Governments have moved quickly in an attempt to support the economy.

There have been regular announcements about help for business, and as the practicalities of then implementing these schemes are realised there have been subsequent amendments.

Some of the measures introduced to try to ensure that staff and skills are retained and to enable business to carry on once we are out of our current situation are:

  • The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - which enables you to furlough staff – essentially grant a leave of absence for up to 3 months and claim 80% of employee costs up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
  • VAT payments can be deferred
  • There is a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, and tourism businesses
  • There are rate relief grants available dependent on the type of business you are
  • The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offers loans of up to £5 million for SMEs, and the first 12 months are interest free
  • There’s also a new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms with turnover between £45m and £500m

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