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For further guidance call 01995 600 600, or email our support team at covid19@tagac.co.uk
F.A.Q.'s
WHAT FINANCIAL SUPPORT IS THERE FOR ME?
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR JOB DUE TO CORONAVIRUS?
FIND OUT WHAT SUPPORT YOU CAN GET FOR YOUR BUSINESS
UK GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES IN SCOTLAND
SOMEONE TESTS POSITIVE AT WORK :- WHAT NEXT?
INDEX OF CONTENT
THE SELF EMPLOYED INCOME SUPPORT SCHEME
JOB RETENTION SCHEME
RESTART AND ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS GRANTS
RECOVERY GRANTS
MORTGAGES AND 95% HELP TO BUY
LESSER USED SUPPORT IS DETAILED HERE IN A SEPARATE BLOG
GUIDANCE FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED
THE SELF-EMPLOYED INCOME SUPPORT SCHEME
Self Employed Income Support Grant Five
A fifth and final grant, covering May 2021 to September 2021, is now open.
Find out how to claim the grant if you’re self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been significantly impacted by coronavirus
The claim process is now live until September 30, 2021.
Find out what to do if you need to pay back some or all of a SEISS grant.
Find out the turnover figures you’ll need before you claim, where to find them and how they affect your grant amount.
Find out how to demonstrate the drop in your turnover here with examples.
How to claim
You should make your claim on or after the personal claim date HMRC has given you.
You must make the claim yourself. Do not ask a tax agent or adviser to claim on your behalf as this will trigger a fraud alert, which will delay your payment.
HMRC will check claims. We’ll take appropriate action to withhold or recover payments for claims found to be dishonest or inaccurate. If you know you’re not eligible for the grant and do not tell us, you may also have to pay a penalty.
If an amendment to your tax return on or after the 3 March 2021 lowers the grant amount you’re eligible for, you’ll need to tell us within 90 days. You may need to pay back some or all of the grant
How much you’ll get
Turnover reduction Maximum grant
30% or more 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits £7,500
Less than 30% 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits £2,850
You need to work out your turnover for a 12-month period, starting on any date from 1 to 6 April 2020.
You can use one of the following periods:
1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021
2 April 2020 to 1 April 2021
3 April 2020 to 2 April 2021
4 April 2020 to 3 April 2021
5 April 2020 to 4 April 2021
6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021
You should check that your figure is accurate. HMRC will be able to check your figures after you submit your tax return for this period.
The grant is taxable and will be paid out in a single instalment.
Guidance for claiming the grant will be available by early June 2021.
Who can claim
To be eligible for the grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.
When you must have traded
You must have traded in the tax years:
2019 to 2020 and submitted your tax return on or before 2 March 2021
2020 to 2021
You must either:
be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
Your tax returns
To work out your eligibility for the fifth grant, we’ll first look at your 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax return. Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.
If you’re not eligible based on your 2019 to 2020 tax return, we’ll then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.
Deciding if you can claim
You must declare that:
you intend to continue to trade
you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus from May 2021 to September 2021
You must keep evidence that shows how your business has been impacted by coronavirus resulting in less business activity than otherwise expected.
HMRC expects you to make an honest assessment about whether you reasonably believe your business will have a significant reduction in profits.
You can follow these steps to help you understand what you can do now.
Find out who can claim
Check that your business has been impacted by coronavirus.
Find out how HMRC works out your grant.
Find out what happens after you’ve claimed.
Make a repayment of the SEISS grant where you should not have claimed
WHO CAN CLAIM?
To be eligible for the fifth grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership. You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust.
You must have traded in both tax years:
2019 to 2020 and submitted your tax return on or before 2 March 2021
2020 to 2021
You must either:
be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
You must also declare that you:
intend to continue to trade
reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profit
How HMRC works out your eligibility based on your tax returns
To work out your eligibility for the fifth grant we’ll first look at your 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax return. Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to or more than your non-trading income.
If you’re not eligible based on your 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax return, we’ll then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.
Find out more information on how HMRC works out trading profits and non-trading income for the self-employment income support scheme.
How different circumstances affect the scheme
There are some circumstances that can affect your eligibility such as if:
If you claim Maternity Allowance this will not affect your eligibility for the grant.
Find out more information on how your circumstances affect your eligibility.
Find out more information on how HMRC work out your trading profits.
HMRC look at your trading profits and non-trading income on your Self Assessment tax returns to check if you meet the eligibility criteria for the fourth grant.
We also use your average trading profits to work out how much grant you’ll get.
How we work out your trading profit and non-trading income eligibility
How we work out your average trading profits and grant amount
If an amendment to your tax return on or after the 3 March 2021 lowers the grant amount you’re eligible for, you’ll need to tell us within 90 days. You may need to pay back some or all of the grant.
Return to your claim
If you need to return to your claim, you can:
check the status of your payment
update your bank details if we have asked you to
check how much you got for previous grants
check to see if you think the grant amount is too low
After you’ve claimed
We’ll check your claim and pay your grant into your bank account within 6 working days. We’ll send an email when your payment is on its way.
Do not contact us unless it has been more than 10 working days since you made your claim and you have not received your payment in that time.
If your business recovers after you’ve claimed, your eligibility will not be affected as this is based on your reasonable belief that your trading profits would have been significantly reduced at the time you made your claim. You must keep evidence to support this.
If you made a claim in error as you were not eligible for a grant or would like to make a voluntary repayment, tell HMRC and pay some or all of the grant back.
Records you need to keep
You must keep a copy of all records in line with normal self-employment record keeping requirements, including the:
amount claimed
grant claim reference
If you’re currently trading but have reduced demand
You must keep any evidence that your business has had reduced activity, capacity or demand due to coronavirus at the time you made your claim, such as:
business accounts showing reduction in activity compared to previous years
records of reduced or cancelled contracts or appointments
a record of dates where you had reduced demand or capacity due to government restrictions
If your business is temporarily unable to trade
You must keep evidence if your business has been unable to trade due to coronavirus, such as:
a record of dates where you had to close due to government restrictions
NHS Test and Trace communications - if you’ve been instructed to self-isolate in-line with NHS guidelines and are unable to work from home
a letter or email from the NHS asking you to shield
test results if you’ve been diagnosed with coronavirus
letters or emails from your child’s school with information on closures or reduced hours
You can check a list of genuine HMRC contacts if you receive any suspicious texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC as this may be a scam.
TAXING THE GRANT
The grant is subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance Contributions. It must be reported on your 2021 to 2022 Self Assessment tax return.
The grant also counts towards your annual allowance for pension contributions.
SEISS grants are not counted as ‘access to public funds’, and you can claim the grant on all categories of work visa.
JOB RETENTION SCHEME EXTENDED TO SEPTEMBER 30
The CJRS is being extended until September 2021. The government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500.
If you cannot maintain your workforce because your operations have been affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), you can furlough employees and apply for a grant to cover a portion of their usual monthly wage costs where you record them as being on furlough.
From July 1 2021 the employer will also pay 10% of hours not worked
In August and September the employer will also pay 20% of hours not worked
Flexible furloughing will be allowed in addition to full-time furloughing.
This extended Job Retention Scheme will operate as the previous scheme did, with businesses being paid upfront to cover wages cost
For periods starting on or after 1 May 2021, you can claim for employees who were employed on 2 March 2021, as long as you have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. You do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before the 2 March 2021 to claim for periods starting on or after 1 May 2021.
For periods ending on or before 30 June 2021 you can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. From 1 July 2021, the level of grant will be reduced each month and you will be asked to contribute towards the cost of your furloughed employees’ wages.
You do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before the 2 March 2021 to claim.
Employers can furlough employees for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim the grant for the hours not worked.
You will need to pay for employer National Insurance contributions and pension costs. Find out more information on employer contributions to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
If you’ve already worked out how much you can claim, you can claim for wages online through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
HMRC will check claims. Payments may be withheld or need to be paid back if a claim is found to be fraudulent or based on incorrect information. You can report suspected fraud in the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants are not classed as state aid.
The next step for employers (where relevant) will be to notify their staff that they are aware of this extension to the scheme, making clear that further information will be communicated to applicable staff in due course and, where appropriate, updated furlough letters will be provided.
In particular, employers will need to review the letters they have sent to furloughed staff in the past to see whether those letters refer to a specific end date for furlough, or state more generally that furlough will continue until the end of the scheme.
Contents
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Employers
All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE schemes can claim the grant. Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the CJRS.
The government expects that publicly funded organisations will not use the scheme, as has already been the case for CJRS, but partially publicly funded organisations may be eligible where their private revenues have been disrupted.
All other eligibility requirements apply to these employers.
Employees
To be eligible to be claimed for under this extension, employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll by 23:59 30th October 2020.
This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment for that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 30th October 2020.
*As under the current CJRS rules:
Employees can be on any type of contract. Employers will be able to agree any working arrangements with employees
Employers can claim the grant for the hours their employees are not working, calculated by reference to their usual hours worked in a claim period. Such calculations will broadly follow the same methodology as currently under the CJRS.
When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours, employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of 7 consecutive calendar days.
Employers will need to report hours worked and the usual hours an employee would be expected to work in a claim period.
For worked hours, employees will be paid by their employer subject to their employment contract and employers will be responsible for paying the tax and NICs due on those amounts plus the relevant % of the employees furlough pay in July, August and September 2021.
80% WAGES AND MINIMAL EMPLOYER COSTS
For hours not worked by the employee, the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500. The grant must be paid to the employee in full.
Employers will pay employer NICs and pension contributions for hours worked and should continue to pay the employee for hours worked in the normal way.
As with the current CJRS, employers are still able to choose to top up employee wages above the scheme grant at their own expense if they wish.
CHECK YOUR EMPLOYER CAN USE JRS
Find out if you’re eligible, and how much your employer can claim if they put you on temporary leave ('furlough') because of coronavirus (COVID-19).
CHECK IF EMPLOYEES CAN BE FURLOUGHED
Find out which employees you can put on furlough and claim for through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Check how different employment conditions affect eligibility
If your employee’s health has been affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) or any other conditions
If you’re claiming for an individual that’s not an employee
CLAIM WAGES THROUGH THE JRS
Claim for some of your employee’s wages if you have put them on furlough or flexible furlough because of coronavirus (COVID-19).
CALCULATE HOW MUCH TO CLAIM
Calculate how much you have to pay your furloughed employees for hours on furlough, how much you can claim for employer NICs and pension contributions and how much you can claim back.
Work out how much you can claim for employer National Insurance contributions
Work out how much you can claim for employer’s pension contributions
STEPS TO TAKE BEFORE CALCULATING YOUR CLAIM
Find out what steps you need to take before you calculate how much you can claim for furloughed and flexibly furloughed employees.
CHECK IF YOU CAN CLAIM YOUR EMPLOYEES WAGES
Find out if you’re eligible and how much you can claim to cover wages for employees on temporary leave ('furlough') due to coronavirus (COVID-19).
JOB RETENTION SCHEME RE-PAYMENTS
The original scheme ended on October 31 2020. If you feel that you may have over claimed for employees wages under the Job Retention Scheme you should contact HMRC to arrange re-payment.
Pay Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants back
RECOVERY LOAN SCHEME
SUMMARY
The scheme, runs until 31 December 2021, will be administered by the British Business Bank, with loans available through a diverse network of accredited commercial lenders.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU BORROW?
term loans or overdrafts of between £25,001 and £10 million per business
invoice or asset finance of between £1,000 and £10 million per business
No personal guarantees will be taken on facilities up to £250,000, and a borrower’s principal private residence cannot be taken as security.
26 lenders were accredited for day one of the scheme, with more to come shortly.
The government will provide an 80% guarantee for all loans.
As the borrower, you are always 100% liable for the debt.
Interest rates have been capped at 14.99%
HOW LONG IS THE LOAN TERM?
The maximum length of the facility depends on the type of finance you apply for and will be:
up to 3 years for overdrafts and invoice finance facilities
up to 6 years for loans and asset finance facilities
Business of any size can borrow £25,000 to £10m with the government guaranteeing 80% of the loans, which will be available up to the end of 2021.
This will be accompanied by asset and invoice finance between £1,000 and £10 million, to help businesses of all sizes through the next stage of recovery.
HOW TO APPLY
Find a lender accredited to offer Recovery Loans from the list on the British Business Bank website:
More information for businesses about the scheme is also available on the
ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS GRANT- DISCRETIONARY
For non-rateable businesses, or rateable business that are open but seeing a severe drop in demand, the Additional Restrictions Grant can provide support.
For example
Closed businesses that do not have a rateable value
Closed business that have costs that are significantly higher
Businesses that are open and severely impacted rather than closed.
However, Local Authorities have the freedom to determine the precise eligibility criteria for these grants. Each council has been given the opportunity to make it's own decision on eligibility priorities locally.
Some councils have chosen to make a recurring payment to those business who were awarded an ARG payment from the November/December round of applications, others have asked those businesses not to apply again and their case will be considered. Check your own councils website below for applications instructions for ARG Round 2 in your area.
All English local authorities will share £425 million of additional discretionary grant funding, but local councils were told on March 9, that they must spend all the remaining funds from the previous rounds of the Additional Restrictions Grant by July 30 , before any additional funds are released, as their pro-rata share of £425m made available in the budget. Previous guidance from BEIS has told councils that they must ensure the existing A.R.G funding would provide support to March 2022.
There has also been no confirmation that the funding ratio previously applied of £20 per head of population will still apply. Until Local Authorities have confirmation of that amount, they don't want to leave themselves short of funds, that may be needed to support local businesses through to March 2022, and for the moment that instruction from central government stands.
Rishi Sunak announced in March 2021 that he believed 70% of the existing funding remained unspent, whilst the guidance on the level of Additional Restrictions Fund now states:-
Local Authorities may want to take into account:-
businesses outside of the business rates system
businesses that have not received any other grant support
the level of fixed costs of the business
the number of employees the business has
whether it is unable to trade online
the consequent scale of coronavirus losses.
The current eligibility criteria for the A.R.G. and the applications forms needed appear on the relevant pages below.
Find the website for your local council.
GRANTS FROM LOCAL AUTHORITIES
RESTART GRANTS IN ENGLAND HAVE NOW CLOSED
The application forms for the Restart Grant were available until June 30, 2021.
Many Local Authorities required another application from local businesses in April, before issuing any of the Restart Grants, which ranged from £2,667 to £18,000.
Council officials and business owners alike had hoped that the need for a formal application process could be negated, as the recipients of the Restart Grant are the very same businesses whom the councils already had on their application and payment database for the LRSG Closed grant, which closed to applicants on March 31.
However, after central government insisted the L.A.'s confirm additional elements of data which they don't hold for future audit purposes, including the precise number of employees and the SIC codes for the category of business, some, though not all councils have determined they will regrettably need another application process.
The links to the latest information in your area and application form pages from a number of Local Authorities in our area is below, or alternatively there's a link to the national postcode checker if your business is further afield.
Here's a reminder of the grant level per sector, based on the rateable value of your premises and your business sector.
All the eligibility criteria are explained here.
RATES VALUATION UNDER £15k £15-£51k ABOVE £51k
NON- ESSENTIAL RETAIL £2,667 £ 4,000 £ 6,000
PERSONAL CARE £8,000 £12,000 £18,000
HOSPITALITY £8,000 £12,000 £18,000
ACCCOMODATION £8,000 £12,000 £18,000
LEISURE £8,000 £12,000 £18,000
GYMS £8,000 £12,000 £18,000
Find the website for your local council here
MORTGAGES
STAMP DUTY
The current holiday ended on June 30 2021 on properties up to £500,000. The nil rate band will be £250,000 until September 30 202, double its standard level, until the end of September before returning to the usual level of £125,000 from October 1st.
HELP TO BUY 95% MORTGAGES GOVT GUARANTEED
The scheme is designed to help creditworthy households struggling to save for the higher mortgage deposits required by lenders in the current environment.
The government will underwrite seven year guarantees for 95% mortgage values up to £600,000, from April 2021 to December 2022, and lenders must offer a five year fixed rate product as part of their range of mortgages offered under the guarantee.
For this reason, a mortgage eligible for a guarantee under the scheme will need to:
• be a residential mortgage (not second homes) and not buy-to-let
• be taken out by an individual or individuals rather than an incorporated company
• be on a property in the UK with purchase value of £600,000 or less
• have a loan-to-value of between 91 per cent and 95 per cent
• be originated between the dates specified by the scheme
• be a repayment mortgage and not interest-only
• meet standard requirements in terms of the assessment of the borrower’s ability to pay
the mortgage, for example a loan-to-income and credit score test
MORTGAGE HOLIDAYS EXTENDED
What support is available?
The FCA reiterates that consumers should keep up with payments on their mortgage if they can afford to do so and should only seek support where such support is absolutely necessary. The FCA has also provided more detail on which groups of consumers will and won’t be able to access payment deferrals:
Those who have not yet had a payment deferral will be eligible for payment deferrals of 6 months in total.
Those who currently have a payment deferral will be eligible to top up to 6 months in total.
Those who have previously had payment deferrals of less than 6 months will be able to top up, as long as total deferrals don’t exceed 6 months. This includes those receiving tailored support and those who are behind on payments.
Borrowers who have already had 6 months of payment deferrals will not be eligible for a further payment deferral. Firms will provide tailored support appropriate to their circumstances. This may include the option to defer further payments.
The FCA has also confirmed that no one should have their home repossessed without their agreement until April 1, 2021.
Consumers will have until 31 March 2021 to apply for an initial or a further payment deferral. After that date, they will be able to extend existing deferrals to 31 July 2021, provided these extensions cover consecutive payments, and subject to the maximum 6 months allowed. Borrowers who have not yet taken a deferral, and who think they need the full 6 months should apply in good time before their February 2021 payment is due.
Payment deferrals under these proposals would not be reported as missed payments on a borrower’s credit file. This does not mean that consumers’ ability to access credit will be unaffected in future, as lenders may take into account a range of information when making lending decisions.
Tailored support may be reported on a borrower’s credit file, and lenders should inform borrowers where this will be the case. Any payment deferrals offered as tailored support could be recorded on a borrower’s credit file.
In October, the FCA issued separate guidance for borrowers with interest only or part-and-part mortgages whose capital repayment plans were affected by the crisis. This means that borrowers whose mortgages matured from 20 March 2020 can delay the repayment of the capital on their mortgage until 31 October 2021.
The FCA has confirmed that as well as accessing payment deferrals before maturity, these borrowers can access payment deferrals after maturity without this affecting their ability to delay the capital repayment.
LESSER USED SUPPORT IS DETAILED HERE
IN A SEPARATE BLOG:-
There we focus on some of the less high profile support measures including :-
RATES HOLIDAY FOR RETAIL, HOSPITALITY & LEISURE
PAYING TAXES AND TIME TO PAY SERVICE
WORKING SAFELY AND TRACK AND TRACE
BUSINESSES WHO NEED BREATHING SPACE
RENTERS AND COMMERCIAL TENANCIES
STATUTORY SICK PAY
UP TO 10K FINE FOR FIRMS WHO STOP SELF-ISOLATION
£500 SELF ISOLATION PAYMENT FOR THOSE ON LOW INCOME
HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT AND PAY DURING COVID19
CORONAVIRUS AND CLAIMING BENEFITS
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION INSURANCE AND COVID 19
LINKS TO GOV.UK FOR ALL FORMS OF BUSINESS SUPPORT
RULES IN ENGLAND FROM JULY 19
From July 19th 2021 in England, the Covid restrictions ended, with the exception of the self-isolation 10 day rule when you test positive for Covid 19, or are told to isolate by NHS Test and Trace.
Businesses are also encouraged to continue displaying QR codes for customers wishing to check in using the NHS COVID-19 app, or to continue collecting customer contact details to support NHS Test and Trace, however this will no longer be a legal requirement.
Ahead of a review in September the government recommendations from July 19th are.
It is "expected and recommended" people wear face coverings in crowded indoor settings and on public transport, unless they are exempt
Encouraging business and large events to use vaccine passports in high risk settings
A gradual return to work if people are working from home
Trying to meet people outside where possible
Using guidance for the clinically extremely vulnerable
Employers still have a legal duty to manage risks to those affected by their business. The way to do this is to carry out a health and safety risk assessment, including the risk of COVID-19, and to take reasonable steps to mitigate the risks you identify. Working Safely guidance sets out a range of mitigations employers should consider including:
cleaning surfaces that people touch regularly
identifying poorly-ventilated areas in the venue and taking steps to improve air flow
ensuring that staff and customers who are unwell do not attend the workplace or venue
communicating to staff and customers the measures you have put in place.
All businesses should follow the principles set out in the working safely guidance. Whilst the Government is no longer instructing people to work from home if they can, the Government would expect and recommend a gradual return over the summer.
SELF ISOLATION
From Aug 16th people that are double vaccinated will be not required to self isolate.
Close contacts contacted by Test and Trace will be requested to take a PCR test.
Anyone under 18 and not vaccinated, who is a close contact of a positive case will no longer be required to self-isolate from August 16th.
TRAVEL RULES LIST FOR AMBER COUNTRIES
From 4am, Monday 19 July, the government will no longer recommend against travel to amber list countries.
People covered by the amber list rules, who have been fully vaccinated with an NHS vaccine, will not need to quarantine on arrival in England, or take a COVID-19 test on day 8.
For further information: