The measures below, whilst aimed at small businesses and individuals in general, are likely to be relevant to Cricket clubs, their employees and the independent contractors that many coaches are.
- The Government has confirmed its advice to avoid pubs, cafes, gyms, theatres and bars is sufficient for businesses to claim on their insurance where they have appropriate business interruption cover for pandemics in place.
- If any businesses are without insurance that covers pandemics, they will receive cash grants of £25,000 where those businesses have a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000.
- All retail, hospitality and leisure businesses – including sports grounds and clubs, sport and leisure facilities, and gyms – in England will have a 100% business rates holiday for the next 12 months, no matter their rateable value. Local Authorities have received guidance on how to apply this relief and will be able to advise further, but it ought to extend to all large sports clubs and stadia. In addition, VAT will be deferred until the end of June 2020 for all businesses.
- All retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England will have a 100% business rates holiday for the next 12 months, no matter their rateable value. VAT will be deferred until the end of June 2020 for all businesses.
- The government will provide additional funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR). This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to businesses currently eligible for SBRR or rural rate relief, to help meet their ongoing business costs.
- A new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank, will launch next week to support primarily small and medium sized businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts. The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan (subject to a per-lender cap on claims) to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. The government will not charge businesses or banks for this guarantee, and the Scheme will support loans of up to £5 million in value. Businesses can access the first 12 months of that finance interest free, as government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments.
- Legislation will be brought forward to allow employers to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19. This will refund up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee and is eligible to employers with fewer than 250 employees.
- The minimum income floor for everyone affected by the economic impacts of coronavirus will be suspended; which will allow them to access, in full, Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay for employees. The next self-assessment payments will be deferred until January 2021.
- Government will cover 80% of the salary of retained workers up to a total of £2,500 a month, under a Coronavirus Job Retention Fund. Any employer in the country – small or large, charitable or for profit – will be eligible to access it. Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of people who are not working but are furloughed and kept on payroll, rather than being laid off. A system will be administered by HMRC and should be up and running by end of April, and any grant can be backdated to 1 March. This will cover everyone on PAYE including those on zero hours contracts.
- All businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service. These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.
- To support larger firms, the Bank of England has announced a new lending facility – the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) – to provide a quick and cost-effective way to raise working capital via the purchase of short-term debt. This will support companies which are fundamentally strong, but have been affected by a short-term funding squeeze, enabling them to continue financing their short-term liabilities. It will also support corporate finance markets overall and ease the supply of credit to all firms.
- An additional £1bn of support is being announced for renters, with housing benefit (and Universal Credit) being increased to cover at least 30% market rents in each areas. The Universal Credit standard allowance will be increased by £1,000 for the next 12 months, and the Working Tax Credit basic element will also be increased by the same amount.
