COVID-19 News Bulletin 29th APRIL 2020
Daily Press Briefing
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab gave todays daily briefing. It was again reiterated that lockdown will not be eased until a second peak can be avoided, stating that a second peak is indeed a real risk to life and could result in further economic pain and potentially in a second lockdown. Government are working on plans for eased restrictions but urge patience from the public and are waiting on scientific reports due in early May before making decisions towards next steps. Todays figures on deaths, for the first time, included deaths in care homes and from non-hospital settings.
Further information to keep you up to date with the support schemes available.
Earlier this week Rishi Sunak announced assistance designed to assist small and mediumsized enterprises. More information is starting to become available. The idea is, with so much red tape to access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme many smaller businesses were struggling with the process, the criteria or the acceptance terms offered by lenders. Therefore, a different approach was needed for SMEs, which represent a vast percentage of businesses within the UK. The Government have now released some details of the bounce back loan scheme, which is due to be live on 4th May.
Key points
For a speedier application process, the Government will provide 100% loan guarantee to the lenders providing finance.
Loans can be between £2,000 and £50,000 but will be capped at 25% of turnover.
Loan terms available will be up to a maximum of 6 years.
There will be no repayments during the first 12 months and during this initial 12 months the loan will be interest free.
The Government is said to be working with lenders to ensure a fair level of interest for once the interest free period has ended.
To be eligible
The business must be based in the UK and be able to show that it has been
negatively affected by coronavirus.
You cannot claim under both the bounce-back loan scheme and CBILS.
The business must have been viable as 31st December 2019.
How to apply
Details on which lenders will be able to access the scheme is not yet available. The primary point is that the application process has been promised to be more straight forward and involve one standardised, quick form to complete. Due to the volume of applications expected, the sensible approach would appear to be to liaise with your existing bank and/or relationship manager in the first instance.
We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
The following link provides further information on this new loan scheme. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan
Daily update on the UK market
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Cutting back on your expenses
I am still receiving questions on how to save money and cut costs during this time. With this in mind, I still urge everyone to review their Income & Expenditure, paying attention to the colour coding of the expenditure areas to prioritise.
Now is time to think outside the box and to seek to reduce your monthly outgoings. Some tips to share;
Have you reviewed your lending? Is it an idea to speak with your mortgage lender?
Have you any finance from car loans to credit cards?
Are you still awaiting refunds? Think holidays, tickets booked, travel booked.
For entertainment, is your gym offering a pause of monthly subscriptions?
Some I hear are offering a refund of the part month which was not used.
It maybe with limited travel, your annual mileage could be reduced for the year on your car insurance to an extent warranting any one-off admin fee.
Is any assistance being offered by the landlord of your business premises?
Whilst interest rates are so low, if you have a savings balance, have you looked at
the return on your cash deposits? Could a better rate on your cash be possible?
Is now a good time to review the many contracts we all have which we leave running without thinking if savings could be made? Think phone lines, broadband,
utilities, mobiles and other gadgets, sky, etc.
Where you are reviewing your lending and taking up offers of payments holidays, you always need to be aware that the missed lending will continue to add to the debt and/or term, so you do have to be certain it is the correct course of action for you. There are plenty of considerations to take into account when reviewing your finances, so please do get in contact with us to assist you, its what we do best!
Consider the below areas of your spending and then do get in contact with us to see how we can help shave of some of the costs of lockdown.
Essential Spending We are here to work through the current situation with you, so please do get in touch.