Here is our latest round up of support for you.

Government Business Support

This follows on from advice given in previous emails and in our blogs on Government Support for businesses.

Furloughing/ Job Retention Scheme
At last time of writing we had got clear that Directors would be able to furlough their own salaries.  We were left with the question of what salary they could put through the system to be furloughed given that most are on a small £700 - £1,000 salary per month.  

The Government has now issued new guidance on who can claim, which employees you can claim for, how furloughed salary should be calculated, how to use the system, tax and accounting treatment.

Sadly from the point of view of most Company Directors the guidance on furloughed salary indicates that it is limited to the greater of:

• Same month's salary the previous year

• Average monthly earnings in 2019-20 tax year

We have also seen petitions being made to government to step in to support Directors on small salaries with other income through dividend.  We wait to see if these bear fruit.

The guidance also makes clear that Employers NI and Pension Contributions are still liable.  Therefore the scheme is not cost-free for employers.  However the payments will be tax deductible.

Small Business and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants
Money has now been received by Local Authorities to pass on to small businesses who benefit from Small Business Rates Relief.  Small Business Rates Relief is available to anyone whose premises has rateable value of less than £15,000.  Retail, Hospitality and Leisure businesses with rateable value above £15,000 but less than £51,000 can get a £25,000 grant.

You can find out the rateable value of your premises on: https://www.gov.uk/correct-your-business-rates.

Each Local Authority has a different process for claiming the grant.  The following links are what we have been able to find so far:

• Lambeth: First navigate to their Information page, then under 'Business Rates Relief and Grant' click on the link to 'complete this form'.

• Southwark: Navigate to this Information page, then click 'Apply for small business rate relief'.

Sadly we have not yet found anything similar for Lewisham or Bromley.

Improving the Numbers Connect

Last week's call was well attended, and we hope useful for business owners to connect, get coaching on getting through this crisis, support each other and ask questions. 

We are repeating it this week, in fact the video conference will be weekly on Wednesdays at 5.00pm.  Tomorrow's conference is available through this link: https://zoom.us/j/129375641.  There is no password needed.

Touch Base Calls

We have managed to touch base with most of you now.  Once again we give our apologies if we have not got through to you yet.  We will keep phoning around but if you would like to set up a time to talk please book in a call here: https://calendly.com/damion-viney/15min

Other Support

Part of the purpose of our Connect meeting and the touch base calls is to make sure we keep business going.  This includes keeping on finding opportunities and doing business.  It is important we don't lose sight of this purpose during lockdown.

Entrepreneur's Free Membership
To this end Entrepreneur's Circle is offering free membership.  The support and opportunity to work on making sales and marketing is far beyond anything we can provide.  We highly recommend it: https://entrepreneurscircle.org/free/.

Keep safe and I hope to you see on Improving the Numbers Connect tomorrow at 5pm.