COVID 19: A Summary of Support for Businesses

Please find below a summary of all the help available to businesses during COVID 19 and where to find further details or apply.

Micro-loans scheme for SMEs – applications from 4 May 2020
Loans of £2k-50k (up to 25% of a company’s turnover)
Backed by a 100% government guarantee
Terms up to 6 years, with the Government covering the first year’s repayments and fees
Simplified and standardised application process
Decision based purely on pre-COVID viability assessment
Available from BBB-accredited lenders.

For more details and to apply for the loan click here

Loans of up to £5m to SMEs with a turnover of less than £45m per annum
Government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments
Government will also provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan (subject to a per-lender cap on claims)
Requires the Bank to be an accredited partner through the British Business Bank

For more details and to apply for the loan click here

CLBILS available from 20 April 2020
Open to businesses with a minimum turnover of £45m – no upper limit
£45m-250m turnover firms can apply for a loan of up to £25m
>£250m turnover firms can apply for a loan of up to £50m
Only businesses which would have been considered viable, but for the crisis, will quality for CLBILS support (as with CBILS)
Businesses that could still obtain finance on commercial terms are still eligible for CLBILS support (as with CBILS)
A partial Government guarantee of 80% (as with CBILS)
Loans up to 3-years (shorter than for CBILS)
As well as term loans, CLBILS can be used for revolving credit facilities, asset finance and invoice finance
The customer pricing must pass on the economic benefit of the guarantee/scheme, net of fees payable by participating lenders
Fees payable by participating lenders will be 50bps for the first year and 100bps for subsequent years
No personal guarantees to be taken for loans <£250k
Listed firms will be prevented from misusing the CLBILS loans to make buy-backs, increase dividends etc

For more details and to apply for the loan click here

The Government has announced the following measures to help those self-employed who have been impacted by coronavirus:

Taxable payment of 80% of average profits over the past three years, up to £2,500 per month.
Eligible if you get the majority of your income from self-employment; have profits no greater than £50,000; and have filed a 2019 tax return.
Whilst the payment is based on three year’s of self-employment history, the Government will consider those with one-two, but not those self-employed for less than a year.
The payment will be made in a single lump sum, from June at the earliest.

For more details and to apply for help click here

Giving all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England a 100% business rates holiday for the next 12 months
Increasing grants to small businesses eligible for Small Business Rate Relief from £3,000 to £10,000
Providing further £25,000 grants to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises, with a rateable value over £15,000 and below £51,000
Commercial tenants unable to pay rent because of coronavirus will be protected from eviction. These measures support ongoing conversations between landlords and tenants about voluntary arrangements. Please see the Governments Guidance for landlords and tenants

Liquidity for larger firms through a new Bank of England lending facility providing low-cost, easily accessible commercial paper
Up to one year maturity
Direct to corporates facility for large corporates
After pressure from the business community, the scheme is now open to those organisations that cannot issue commercial paper directly, by using a bank as an intermediary

Eligibility:

Businesses will need to provide evidence they are investment grade using the following standard rating agency criteria:

Long and short term public corporate credit ratings
(Private) ‘Indicative ratings’ at a recent point-in-time (for those approaching CRAs for the first time)
‘Credit Assessments’ (CAs) at a recent point-in-time (for those approaching CRAs for the first time)
(Private) Credit opinion at a recent point-in-time (for those approaching CRAs for the first time). A form of Fitch ‘credit opinion’ incorporating a rating rationale would be preferred, if available.

For more details and to apply for the loan click here