Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
As the country emerges out of lockdown, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme dries up, many experts are afraid that hundreds of thousands of workers may find themselves made redundant post furlough. The Bank of England expects unemployment to jump from 4 per cent to 9 per cent between April and June 2020, the highest rate since 1994. And that is before the government’s emergency furlough scheme is switched off at the end of October, when even more workers may find themselves unemployed.
Given that so many are braced for redundancy, surely it makes sense to start thinking about your new life now.
And for many, that means pivoting to working for themselves for the first time and starting a new business.
However, the world has changed since it went into lockdown, accelerating many of the trends which were predicted to happen over the next five years: increased working from home, air travel once again becoming a luxury due to environmental concerns, shopping local, streaming overtaking cinema, boosting the green economy, etc.
And many of these trends are not going away.
5 best small business ideas post coronavirus
So, here are five of the best low-cost ideas to start
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Treasury mulls employment allowance boost for small business hiring
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is debating whether to increase the employment allowance in order to encourage Britain’s 5.9m small business to take on more staff.
Currently, small businesses can save £4,000 off their national insurance bill through the employment allowance. More than 600,000 small businesses pay nothing in national insurance contributions through the scheme.
But the Treasury is mulling whether to increase the employment allowance much further in order to head off what has been dubbed “Jobpocalypse Now” as workers come off furlough. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will expire completely by end-October. The Bank of England expects unemployment to jump from 4 per cent to 9 per cent between April and June 2020, the highest rate since 1994 – and that is even before the furlough scheme even starts to wind down from August.
Separately, the Treasury is also debating whether scrap national insurance this year for small businesses, a proposal which the Taxpayers’ Alliance estimates could save or create between 595,000 and 892,000 jobs
Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors (IoD), told the Telegraph that “Increasing the employment allowance would be a sensible step to take in the Budget statement,” he said.
Craig Beaumont, director
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We want to hear your thoughts on Covid-19 and your small business
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
We’ve teamed up with the UK Domain to bring you a survey on how small businesses have been feeling about their situation throughout coronavirus.
So, over to you. We would love to hear your thoughts – please take a few minutes to complete the survey below.
Updated Nominet Survey – June 2020
Step 1 of 2
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Forgive all small businesses coronavirus debt, urges George Osborne
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Former chancellor George Osborne has called for all coronavirus emergency debt taken out by small and micro businesses to be forgiven.
Speaking to the Treasury select committee on Wednesday, June 3 alongside two other former chancellors, Mr Osborne said the Government should eventually write off billions of pounds worth of loans to small and micro businesses “who are engines of growth”.
Treasury officials would “hate” the idea, said Mr Osborne, but any recovery will be stymied if small businesses face years strangled by coronavirus debt.
“Even if in a couple years’ time when the corporate sector owes a lot of money – particularly the micro businesses, small businesses who are engines of growth and can be completely held back by large credit burden – I think then the government should look at some sort of debt forgiveness,” he said.
“At some point in the next couple of years you either write them off or, what I expect will happen, is every six months or year the chancellor at the time announces that the lending terms are pushed out, the rates are kept very low and so on.
“But it would be better as a big act of debt
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4 ways small shops can reinvent themselves post coronavirus
by Chris Giddins • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Chris Giddins on Small Business
With the Government announcing that shops will be allowed to open from June 15, small shops across the country have been thinking through what to do post coronavirus.
In the face of an incredibly tough retail environment and consumer habits still far from “normal”, reserves of ingenuity and grit will be required. As plans are put together, there are a range of key considerations that businesses must consider in order to re-open safely and successfully.
It won’t be business as usual
We know that the way businesses operate must change. With new Government regulations released on how retailers must keep their stores COVID-19 free, including strict cleaning and hygiene guidelines and advice on keeping the two-metre distance rule, the number one priority for everyone is people’s safety.
But as business owners adapt their stores and consumer shopping habits change, the way we buy will change and it won’t necessarily be for the better.
Without innovation, the experience of visiting your local store will be a tedious process of long queues to stare at products through Perspex screens. This crisis requires creative solutions from retailers to bring back the sense of community, excitement and enjoyment that the high street
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How the Coronavirus Has Changed the Future of Work
by John Rampton • • 0 Comments
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BGF pitches £15bn growth fund for struggling businesses post-coronavirus
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Business Growth Fund is proposing a £15bn growth fund to help businesses struggling under the weight of coronavirus emergency loan debt.
Stephen Welton, chief executive of Business Growth Fund, is talking to investors, the Government and his banking shareholders about the new fund. BGF’s shareholders include Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS.
Welton told the Financial Times that the UK faces a more devastating economic crash than the Great Recession of 2008, warning of “a totally unsustainable debt mountain” following the Government’s emergency coronavirus lending schemes.
Like others, Welton believes that many businesses will be crushed by this debt mountain, forcing them into bankruptcy and making a lot of people redundant.
Target viable businesses
The BGF fund would specifically target viable businesses that have borrowed money from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) but cannot repay it, because of the complete absence of customers.
Like the Future Fund, any BGF investment would have to be matched by private investors, which could include pension funds. Welton said that he had been talking to a couple of institutions about them coming on board. It has long been an ambition of his to have pension funds diversify into supporting fast-growth British
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How to do a coronavirus risk assessment on your small business premises
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
As businesses start to reopen, the safety of your staff, customers and your suppliers is a priority. One of the first areas to address is your coronavirus risk assessment.
The government has published a series of eight guides to help businesses to reopen across key sectors.
We’ll delve deeper into how you conduct your own risk assessment to ensure that your business is COVID-19 secure.
When should I be doing a coronavirus risk assessment?
If you’re already trading, you need to do it now to prove that you’re working safely. Those who have more time would be wise to carry one out now too.
You have an obligation under Section 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to do a standard risk assessment. The government recommend that you take out a risk assessment in line with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the minimum you must do is:
Identify what could cause injury or illness in your business (hazards)
Decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk)
Take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn’t possible, control
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7 ways to help your Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan get approved
by Mark Perrin • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Mark Perrin on Small Business
During times of financial crisis, businesses are always advised that the key to survival is to keep a close eye on cash flow. But what happens if everything possible has been done and the company needs to secure a business interruption loan to get by? What can business owners do to increase their chances of getting approved and securing the money they urgently need?
Before completing an application form for a business interruption loan, business owners need to understand the true cash picture and how it might change in the future. This involves assessing how the coronavirus crisis could impact cash flow in three, 12, 24 and even 36 months’ time.
Even though it is not mandatory for financial forecasts to accompany applications to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), business owners should avoid committing to any loan without understanding how changes affecting the cash position of the organisation could affect their ability to make repayments in the years ahead.
As well as being a demonstration of management best practice, cash flow forecasts allow business owners to make well-informed decisions about how much money they need to borrow and whether the loan is affordable. Without
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One in 10 small business owners contemplating suicide
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
One in 10 small business owners in Britain are considering suicide, according to their accountants, in their latest snapshot of SMEs.
Eleven per cent of small business owners are thinking of ending it all, overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, while 78 per cent of SME owners have worse mental health, according to research from chartered accountants’ group ACCA and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN).
And 89 per cent of accountants say that their small business clients are generally under more stress.
>See also: Nearly half of small businesses do not intend to repay government loans
The ACCA survey shows how the coronavirus pandemic has affected small business owners’ mental health, driving many of them to consider suicide. On top of spiralling debt and a cratered economy, many independent retailers have the prospect of the next quarter day commercial property rental payment looming on June 24, despite their shops not having been open for the past three months.
Thousands of small businesses say they are firefighting immediate concerns such as cashflow pressures and resuming operations safely ahead of lockdown lift.
The biggest three fears of small businesses, according to their accountants, are being able to manage cashflow pressures, implementing social