The Government has created a dedicated hub for Coronavirus Business Support where businesses can find out how to access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when schemes open and how to apply.
Coronavirus Business Support ›
If you are an employer or self-employed, you may be eligible for loans, tax relief and cash grants. To see what support is available for you and your business, use the Government's online business support finder.
Free Business Health-Check Survey
High street businesses have the opportunity to receive a health-check report, score and recommendations specifically tailored to their individual business free of charge, simply by completing a 10 minute High Street and Recovery online Survey. The responses received will help the creator of the survey, 'Save The High Street' to understand the support you need. Businesses will receive:
- A health-check report and scores, highlighting vulnerabilities and opportunities across your business
- Six top recommendations selected for you, with engaging content and step-by-step guides
- A telephone call with an expert consultant to discuss your report and recommendations (optional and for the first 1,000 responses)
The Small Business Grant and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants are now available for eligible businesses to claim.
View our How to Video & Business Grant FAQs here >>
Discretionary grants
Businesses which missed out on the first round of the Business Rates Grants may be eligible for a new Discretionary Grant Fund. The Government has provided limited information on this fund which says these grants can only go to:
- Businesses with ongoing fixed building-related costs
- Business which can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to Coronavirus
- Businesses with fewer than 50 employees
- Businesses that were trading before 11 March 2020
Further guidance will be published here, once we have more information, on how to apply for this discretionary business grant.
Weekly Business e-Newsletter
Small Business Grant Scheme - Claim Now
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme - Claim Now
Ban on Evictions for Commercial Tenants
Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Businesses Trading Internationally
Coast to Capital Business Support
Deferral of VAT and Income Tax Payments
Extension Period to File Accounts
Protection from Aggressive Rent Collection and Closure
Self Employment Income Support Scheme
Please find below an overview of the key schemes highlighting the latest updates and additional information from Mole Valley District Council on certain schemes:
Letter to all Residents
A letter to all residents offering support and advice during this difficult time.
Small Business Grant Scheme - Claim Now
Businesses can now make a claim for the Small Business Grant Scheme providing a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.
Mole Valley District Council will be contacting all eligible businesses direct by letter.
Eligibility
- Businesses in receipt of either Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rates Relief as of 11 March 2020 are eligible for a payment of £10,000
- Recipients eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund are not eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant
- Properties occupied for personal use, such as private stables and loose boxes are excluded
- State aid rules apply to this scheme. Therefore you are not eligible for the scheme if you have received more than €800,000 in state aid over the last three year rolling period
- Grants are payable only to the ratepayer and by accepting a grant payment the business is confirming they are eligible
If your business meets the above criteria then you are eligible for a grant, and we will process the payment as soon as we have the necessary details from you.
Mole Valley District Council has mad more than 1,000 grant payments, totalling over £13.5m. Our team is following up with the small number of claims where the details were not quite right or had other issues to get payments made as soon as possible.
If you think you are eligible or know a business who might be but have yet to claim, please check the criteria and submit a claim.
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme
Businesses can now make a claim for this scheme to provide businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property.
Mole Valley District Council will be contacting all eligible businesses direct by letter.
Eligibility
- Businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector with a property that has a rateable value of up to £15,000 are eligible for a grant of £10,000 per property
- Businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector with a property that has a rateable value of over £15,000 and less than £51,000 are eligible for a grant of £25,000 per property
- Recipients eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund are not eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant
- Properties occupied for personal use, such as private stables and loose boxes are excluded
- State aid rules apply to this scheme. Therefore you are not eligible for the scheme if you have received more than €800,000 in state aid over the last three year rolling period
- Grants are payable only to the ratepayer and by accepting a grant payment the business is confirming they are eligible
If your business meets the above criteria then you are eligible for a grant, and we will process the payment as soon as we have the necessary details from you.
Alert - Phishing Emails
We have been advised of email scams where fraudsters have attempted to gain the details of eligible grant recipients.
One such example saw an email sent to a local business that had applied for a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grant; purporting to be from the 'Director of Finance'.
The email appears superficially authentic, but the individual referred to as the Director of Finance in this instance works for a different authority, and had no knowledge of the correspondence.
Please be vigilant at this time and check emails received very carefully. If you are suspicious of an email's authenticity, please report it to Action Fraud and the National Cyber Security Centre.
Weekly Business e-Newsletter
Mole Valley District Council sends a weekly round-up of the latest business support information through our Economic Spotlight e-Newsletter.
Coast to Capital Business Support
Growth Hub advice
Growth Hub Advisers are on hand to talk through business issues and will be able to refer businesses to specialist financial and other advice and potentially fund an initial day's support.
One to One sessions
Coast to Capital's Growth Champions are now running FREE one hour bookable sessions for 1-2-1 conversations with business experts. The sessions will be running online from 8.00am to 8.00pm and therefore there will be up to 10 available appointments each day. Each day will have a theme.
Webinars
Online workshops will be held in the coming days and weeks on issues related to business resilience, cashflow management, and home working methods.
Backing Business Grant
The Local Enterprise Partnership, Coast to Capital, Backing Business Grant is a £2 million fund that has been set up to provide grants to small businesses and social enterprises in their area who have been affected by coronavirus.
They aim to help up to 400 organisations in the Coast to Capital area including Mole Valley. Grants of £5,000-£25,000 to fund specific measures will be available to help businesses adapt, evolve and innovate to the various economic impacts brought about by the pandemic.
Find out more about the Backing Business Grant >>
Funding Opportunities
Mole Valley's SME businesses and community, voluntary and charitable organisations are able to access a free portal to search for available funding opportunities.
Annual Leave Rules Relaxed
Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement due to Coronavirus will now be able to carry it over into the next 2 leave years.
Bounce Back Loan
This scheme launched on Monday 4 May 2020 to help small and medium sized-business to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000.
The Government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won't be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.
Loan terms will be up to six years. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months. The Government will work with lenders to agree a low rate of interest for the remaining period of the loan.
Further details and information about eligibility is available here.
Protection From Aggressive Rent Collection and Closure
High street shops and other companies under strain will be protected from aggressive rent collection and asked to pay what they can during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Government is to introduce temporary new measures to safeguard the UK high street against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic
Statutory demands and winding up petitions issued to commercial tenants to be temporarily voided and changes to be made to the use of Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, building on measures already introduced in the Coronavirus Act.
Landlords and investors are being asked to work collaboratively with high street businesses unable to pay their bills at this time.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus. This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next three months. This may be extended if needed.
Claim a grant through the SEIS here
Business Rates Holiday
A full Business Rates discount applies to the 2020/21 tax year for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, many childcare providers, Estate agents, lettings agencies and bingo halls.
Businesses can estimate their business rate charge using the business rates calculator. Further information can be found in the expanded retail discount guidance for local authorities and the nursery discount guidance.
View Business Rates Holiday details >>
Job Retention Scheme
All UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees' salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis. HMRC will reimburse 80% of affected employees wage costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. Employers will need to designate affected employees as 'furloughed workers' and submit this information to HMRC who are working urgently to set up a system for reimbursement.
The online claim service for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is now open.
A step-by-step guide has been produced that explains what employers need to provide to claim for their employees' wages.
Deferral of VAT and Income Tax Payments
Valued Added Tax (VAT) payments are to be deferred for three months (20 March until 30 June 2020). If you are self-employed, Income Tax payments due in July 2020 under the Self-Assessment system will be deferred to January 2021. This is an automatic offer with no applications required.
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
This scheme supports SMEs with access to loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5 million and for up to 6 years. The government will also make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied fees, so smaller businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments. The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan (subject to pre-lender cap on claims) to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. The scheme will be delivered through commercial lenders, backed by the government-owned British Business Bank.
There are 40 accredited lenders able to offer the scheme, including all the major banks.
Find out if you're eligible and how to apply >>
Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
This scheme will provide a government guarantee of 80% to enable banks to make loans of up to £25 million to firms with an annual turnover of between £45 million and £500 million. The scheme allows lenders to specifically support businesses that were viable before the COVID-19 outbreak but now face significant cash flow difficulties that would otherwise make their business unviable in the short term.
View details so far on CLBILS >>
The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme has been expanded to cover all viable firms. All firms with a turnover of more than £45 million will now be able to apply for up to £25 million of finance, and up to £50 million for firms with a turnover of more than £250 million.
The scheme, which launched on Monday 20 April 2020, is available through a series of accredited lenders, which will be listed on the British Business Bank website.
Loans for Larger Firms
To support larger firms, the Bank of England has announced a new lending facility (the COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility) to provide a quick and cost effective way to raise working capital via the purchase of short-term debt.
The scheme is now available for applications.
More information is available from the Bank of England >>
Time to Pay Service
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 Time to Pay service. These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.
The HMRC dedicated helpline is 0800 0159 559.
Statutory Sick Pay Relief
Small and medium-sized businesses and employers will be able to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19. The Government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible. This refund will cover up to 2 weeks' SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19. A rebate scheme is being developed. Further details will be provided in due course once the legalisation has passed.
View Statutory Sick Pay relief details >>
Relaxation of Planning Rules
Planning regulations have been changed to enable restaurants, cafes and pubs which do not normally offer delivery and hot food takeaway options, the flexibility to be able to do so.
Businesses will be required to tell the local planning authority when the new use begins and ends. Please email planning@molevalley.gov.uk with the subject line 'Temporary change of use to a Take Away'.
Insurance
Insurance policies differ significantly, so businesses should check the terms and conditions of their specific policy and contact their insurance adviser or broker. Most businesses are unlikely to be covered, as standard business interruption insurance policies mostly exclude pandemics. Please see guidance from the Association of British Insurers for further information.
Non-Essential Premises Closed
All non-essential premises must remain closed.
Takeaway and delivery services may remain open and operational in line with government guidance.
Online retail is still open and encouraged.
Retail and public premises allowed to remain open must:
- Ensure a distance of two meters between customers and shop assistants
- Let people enter the shop only in small groups, to ensure that spaces are not crowded
- Queue control is required outside of shops and other essential premises that remain open
Emergency Volunteering Leave
A clause in the Coronavirus Bill 2020 creates a temporary new form of statutory unpaid leave for employees and workers who wish to volunteer - Emergency Volunteering Leave. The clause also includes certain rights and protections for employees and workers who take Emergency Volunteering Leave, including, for example, the maintenance of terms and conditions of employment during any period of leave and protection from detriment for taking the leave. The clause also provides an obligation on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to establish a compensation scheme to compensate eligible volunteers for some loss of income and expenses incurred.
The total consecutive amount of Emergency Volunteering Leave an individual can take is 4 weeks in any volunteering period of 16 weeks. There are exemptions for micro businesses (those with 10 or fewer employees).
Paying Suppliers
More information on paying our suppliers is here >>
Three-Month Extension Period to File Accounts
From 25 March 2020, businesses will be able to apply for a 3-month extension for filing their accounts. This joint initiative between the government and Companies House will mean businesses can prioritise managing the impact of coronavirus. Applications can be made through a fast-tracked online system which will take just 15 minutes to complete.
Businesses Trading Internationally
Advice has been published for UK businesses that export or deliver goods and services abroad and have been impacted by the spread of coronavirus. It includes DIT support and financial support for UK business trading internationally.
Apprenticeships
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is taking steps to ensure that, wherever possible, apprentices can continue and complete their apprenticeships, despite any break they need to take as a result of coronavirus, and to support providers during this challenging time.
Further Information
For further information, visit GOV.UK or email economicdevelopment@molevalley.gov.uk if you have any queries.