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Good afternoon,
With the applications for grants being opened tomorrow (17th) by Welsh Government, and the launch of HMRC’s much publicised furlough scheme portal in support of the Job Retention Scheme happening on Monday 20th, there is much to focus on and ensure we all submit the correct information.
There still exists a certain amount of missing information and interpretation for both schemes, and we are all going to have to be patient and alert to any changes or interpretations.
Welsh Economic Resilience Fund – Grants for Microbusinesses, SME’s and Larger Businesses
- Applications for assistance through this Fund will open on Friday 17th April 2020.
- Applications must be completed online via a link to be announced. We will ensure that we will get this link to you all via a Special Update as soon as its announced. Please keep a keen lookout very early tomorrow!
- If there is any problem with accessing or completing an online application telephone Business Wales directly - 03000 603000.
- Please ensure, before even considering submitting an application, that you refer to this link – Welsh Economic Resilience Fund Checker - to ensure that you are eligible and meet all the criteria. (also see Update No.14 dated 14th April)
There has been a great deal of dissatisfaction expressed by many small businesses who are not registered for VAT, and are therefore excluded from eligibility to the Microbusinesses fund for £10,000. Many of these businesses are also excluded from the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Job Retention Scheme (JRS). This all comes at a time when there are official reports saying that as many as 45% of the Self Employed in Wales are struggling to cover even the most basic of costs.
Strong representations have and are being submitted in support of this group of self employed, and we would suggest that the more representations that are made, the better of success. If you are affected by this anomaly please make your case known your local Councillor, AM, or MP.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The Scheme portal will be launched on Monday 20th April, and it is worth repeating the following:-
- It is important that you have all the necessary information to hand. This will include:-
1. The bank account number and sort code you would like HMRC to use when they process the claim.
2. The name and phone number of a person in your business for HMRC to call with any queries.
3. Your self-assessment UTR (Unique Tax Reference), Company UTR, or Company Registration Number
4. The full name, employee number and National Insurance number for each of your furloughed employees.
5. The total amount being claimed for all employees, and the total furlough period.
For more information please visit the Governments website here.
- Everyone must ensure that they have their Government gateway login for payroll. If you don’t have a government account for your PAYE please enrol here.
- It was announced earlier this week that employers can now claim for furloughed employees that were on the payroll on or before 19th March 2020, and were notified to HMRC on RTI before that date. This is good news in some respects, allowing more employees to be furloughed. BUT, beware an anomaly whereby monthly paid staff starting work on 1st March and paid on 31st March will NOT be eligible, whereas a weekly paid employee starting on the same date, but being paid a week later on the 8th March, WILL be eligible.
- We understand that Employers with over 100 employees will be able to submit via an upload process, whereas employers with less than 100 employees will have to input details for each individual separately. This will inevitably be very time consuming, particularly for businesses such as ours at Mitchell Meredith when we will be dealing with so many payrolls.
- HMRC have indicated that they should be able to deal with submissions from 450,000 users per hour, and that the first claims will be paid 10 days later, and later claims within 4-6 days. Many consider this to be very ambitious, even suggesting that the system might crash. This is the first trial of such a new system we do advise being patient whilst it is bedded in.
- HMRC are aware that the system is open to fraud and abuse, and are setting up an online whistle blower service for workers to report employers who abuse the system.
- Finally, please note that employees must now have agreed in writing, or by email, to be furloughed, rather than merely being notified.
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
There have been a great many reports about the difficulty in obtaining, and the length of time it is taking, to succeed with a funding application under the above Scheme. The intention has always been to provide funds to struggling businesses as quickly as possible.
We are therefore setting out below a checklist of Essential Information which will hopefully result in a speedier and successful application, and that a lender requires for a funding application:-
- State the amount you require, the purpose and timescale over which it will be required.
- Submit 3 years accounts, particularly if you are approaching a new lender.
- Submit management figures showing year to date performance.
- Forecasts/Projections for at least 12 months, demonstrating use of borrowing. The lender will no doubt appreciate the uncertainty with these figures.
- A cash flow forecast for at least 3 months.
- Details of other actions taken, and grants applied for, particular to your business sector.
- Details of your recovery plans post COVID-19.
- A list of Assets at current valuations (your own estimate may suffice), together with any other outstanding loans or mortgages, or factoring arrangements.
- A brief overview of the key management staff, with relevant qualifications and experience, particularly if you are approaching a new lender.
- Details of any assets available to be offered as security.
We hope that this helps to speed up a process which was intended to be a quick and agile response to a crisis, but which in many cases is proving not to be!
Good luck to those who are submitting grant applications tomorrow, and to those submitting applications to the JRS portal on Monday!
Best wishes
Mitchell Meredith
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