Latest lockdown business news and our new Bounce Back programme

It's June, and Lockdown continues to ease.

Many businesses are starting to reopen, with more preparing to reopen over the course of the next few weeks. The non-essential high street shops will be next, and the government is helping (through local authorities) to support these businesses.

No matter what kind of business you are, it is vital that you organise and prepare so that your business can fully operate with the social distancing measures and the 'new normal' that we will need to live with for months, and possibly years to come.

We are here to help with our new Bounce Back programme.

But also we will give you two hours of our time, FREE, to help with your planning and organising to get going again. If you are interested, please call me on 01384 355444 or use the contact us form on our website.

As always, please stay safe.

Doug D'Aubrey.

Furlough Scheme

The furlough scheme has now been extended, the key here is that the last day to register a new applicant for furlough is 10th June 2020.

The scheme will close to new entrants from 30th June 2020. From this point onwards, employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have furloughed for a full 3 week period prior to 30th June 2020.

From 1st July, employers can bring back employees that have previously been furloughed for any amount of time and any shift pattern, whilst still being able to claim Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) grant for their normal hours not worked. When claiming the CJRS grant for furloughed hours employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of a week.

There are further changes too:

• June and July: The government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of ￡2,500 as well as employer National Insurance (ER NICS) and pension contributions. Employers are not required to pay anything.
• August: The government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of ￡2,500. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions – for the average claim, this represents 5% of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed.
• September: The government will pay 70% of wages up to a cap of ￡2,187.50. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions and 10% of wages to make up 80% total up to a cap of ￡2,500. For the average claim, this represents 14% of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed.
• October: The government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of ￡1,875. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions and 20% of wages to make up 80% total up to a cap of ￡2,500. For the average claim, this represents 23% of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed.

Enterprise Nation Grant

This is a grant of ￡5000 for small businesses to help in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Grants are taxable.

Am I eligible? To be eligible to apply, companies must:

• Be registered at Companies House
• Been established for at least 12 months
• Have not received any other cash grant during 2020 in relation to COVID-19 from any Government
• Be based in the UK with a British bank account
• Have between 2 to 50 employees
• Full eligibility criteria can be found here

How do I apply?

Applications have to be registered between 8am on 01st July 2020 and 11.59pm on 7th June 2020, so time is of the essence!

Each region will have 7 calendar days for businesses to submit their application and they will be reviewed as part of these waves.

Applicants who are shortlisted to pitch will have five minutes to pitch via video, covering three key topics:

• Introduction to the business
• How their business has been affected by coronavirus
• How securing the grant will help their business/what it will be spent on/how it will impact

Enterprise Nation will communicate with applicants via email as to whether they have successfully made it through to the video-pitch round and what that involves.

Successful applicants will be notified by 12th June 2020.

Central England has 68 grants available the region covers:

• West Midlands, 
• Staffordshire,
• Worcestershire,
• Warwickshire,
• Shropshire,
• Herefordshire,
• Derbyshire,
• Leicestershire,
• Lincolnshire,
• Northamptonshire,
• Nottinghamshire,
• Rutland,
• Bedfordshire,
• Cambridgeshire,
• Essex, 
• Hertfordshire,
• Norfolk,
• Suffolk.

To register and submit an application for Central England click here.

The Reopening High Streets Safely Fund

A new ￡50 million fund for councils to support their local high streets get safely back to business.

To prepare for the reopening of non-essential retail when the scientific advice allows, the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund will help councils in England introduce a range of safety measures in a move to kick-start local economies, get people back to work and customers back to the shops.

It will also support a range of practical safety measures including new signs, street markings and temporary barriers. This will help businesses get ready for when they can begin trading safely, not only in high streets and town and city centres, but also in other public spaces like beachfronts and promenades.

Councils will also be able to use this money to develop local marketing campaigns to explain the changes to the public and reassure them that their high streets and other commercial areas are safe.

The money will be allocated to councils on a per capita basis and will be ready to spend from 1st June 2020. This may be a great time for PPE companies, digital marketing and print companies to be making contact with the local councils to help them spend their grant!

More information can be found here.

We will continue to update you as more information becomes available.

If you need any help, please contact me on 01384 355444 or using the contact us form on our website.

Please continue to stay safe, follow the advice from the government and continue to support one another.

Best regards,

The ETC team