Government Business Support Measures

Government Business Support Measures

Announced ? UK Government on 17 March 2020 and Scottish Government on 18 March 2020

1. ACCESS TO FUNDING FOR SMES AND LARGE BUSINESSES Q: Do I qualify and how do I go about accessing such a loan? A: Small and Medium Sized Businesses can access the Coronavirus Business

Interruption Loan Scheme via the British Business Bank SMEs for the purpose of accessing this facility are those businesses in the UK with a turnover of no more than ?41m per annum. Large businesses can access the COVID-19 Corporate Finance Facility via the Bank of England The details available on these two schemes are detailed below. We are concerned, however, that for businesses who do not qualify as being SMEs or who cannot access the corporate finance facility that there is no loan scheme available. We have been in contact with the Bank of England to make this point and we are going to actively lobby and we will hopefully see that they will address this point.

We expect further clarity over the course of the next few days as to the practical steps for businesses to go through in order to access the support available.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

The British Business Bank will deliver the CBILS through participating banks and debt providers with the aim of supporting the continued provision of finance to UK businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed guarantee against the outstanding facility balance, potentially enabling a `no' credit decision from a lender to become a `yes'.

The maximum value of a facility provided under the scheme will be ?5 million pounds.

The Government will also cover the first 6 months of interest payments, so businesses will benefit from lower initial repayments. The business remains liable for repayments of the capital.

CBILS will support a wide range of business finance products, including:

? Term facilities ? Overdrafts ? Invoice finance facilities ? Asset finance facilities

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To be eligible for support via CBILS, the business must: ? Be UK based, with turnover of no more than ?41 million per annum ? Operate within an eligible industrial sector (a small number of industrial sectors are

not eligible for support ? see link below) ? Be able to confirm that they have not received de minimis State aid beyond 200,000

equivalent over the current and previous two fiscal years ? Have a sound borrowing proposal, but insufficient security to meet the lender's

requirements

Finance terms are from three months up to ten years for term loans and asset finance and up to three years for revolving facilities and invoice finance.

To apply for an CBILS-backed facility, businesses will approach one or more participating lenders to discuss their borrowing needs. Full eligibility criteria will be published shortly by the British Business Bank shortly.

We are in regular discussions with many of the high street lenders and expect communications from them over the course of the next few days as to how businesses can access the CBILS. There is an expectation that businesses will have to provide some level of Management Information to lenders when applying for these loans, in particular cash flow forecasts, so for those clients where access to this funding could be relevant we should be having pro-active discussions with them now to ensure they are in a position to move forward with potential lenders quickly when required.

The British Business Bank state on their website that they expect the scheme to become available in the week commencing 23rd March.

Further details can be accessed via the link below:-



COVID 19 ? Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF)

Large businesses may access a new lending facility being provided by the Bank of England ("BoE"). Via the BoE businesses will be able to sell short term bonds (with a maturity of less than one year) at current commercial terms as a means of raising funds. The scheme will be in place for 12 months. Details on how to access the facility are expected to be published on Monday 23rd March.

Information and guidance can be found at:-





2. BUSINESS RATES RELIEF

19 March 2020

Q: Is your understanding that for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors there will be no rates to pay for the year starting 1 April 2020 and that there will be no clawback? A: The Scottish Government has also confirmed that business rate reliefs will be automatically applied to rates bills from 1st April 2020. A list will be published online for businesses to check if they are eligible.

There will be no clawback of the relief provided.

Previously, state aid limits were capped at 200,000 over a 3 year period and this has now been temporarily relaxed to 500,000, meaning larger businesses who may have otherwise found their limits already reached for relief during the year 2019/20 will now be able to benefit further.

Further, due to recent changes enacted in the NDR (Scotland) Bill due to come into effect on 1st April 2020, the ability to appeal on the grounds of a Material Change in Circumstances (MCC) due to economic factors has been removed. It would appear that all businesses affected by the coronavirus must appeal before the deadline of 31st March 2020 for this argument to be considered this financial year. It is worth clients checking with a professional firm of surveyors on the precise process here.

Q: If I am not in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors is there any form of relief from Business Rates available to us?

A: Sadly not but the Government has said that local council finance departments will be advised to look favourably on requests for payment deferrals for a fixed period. Further, the rate poundage rate is to be frozen at 2019/2020 levels.

3. GRANT FUNDING

Q: What sort of grants are available, how do I go about claiming them and are they repayable?

A: - Firstly, businesses eligible for small business rates relief or rural rates relief will now be eligible for a ?10,000 grant.

- ?25,000 grant for those leisure, retail and hospitality businesses with a rateable value between ?18,000 and ?51,000.

These grants are not repayable and Scottish Enterprise says that how they will be administered and what they will look like has not been decided yet. Announcements will be made over the next few days.

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