Tag Archive for Government Grants

Insurer using small business Covid grants to justify cutting payouts

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
NFU Mutual, the insurance company, is using small business Covid grants already received by business owners as a pretext to cutting coronavirus payouts.
The insurer is paying less to struggling small businesses in the hospitality sector because it says they have received small business Covid grants.
The Government has paid more than £10bn to almost 900,000 small businesses in need in the form of one-off grants of up to £10,000, paid out by local authorities.
NFU Mutual said deductions made to reflect state aid are only applied to loss-of-profit claims, not to those made for loss of income. Determining a loss-of-profit claim settlement, it said, includes the need to consider “all taxable income”, including Government grants, as well as any other forms of compensation.
However, the Professional Association of Self Caterers UK (PASC) has branded the practice “highly immoral” and suggests NFU Mutual is using it to boost its own profits.
PASC UK executive chairman Alistair Handyside told insurance trade magazine NS Insurance that insurers should honour their contracts and not behave “so poorly”.
Handyside said: “Overwhelmingly our members are small, family-run, rural and coastal businesses for whom the Small Business Grant Fund is a critical lifeline intended to

Read more...

Rishi Sunak gives small businesses £2000 grants for young trainees

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: Rishi Sunak will give small businesses £2000 grants per trainee if they take on young people for training schemes.
The scheme, which was announced today (Wednesday) as part of the chancellor’s economic Summer Statement, will throw ens of thousands of young people a lifebelt against the coming tsunami of post Covid-19 unemployment.
The Bank of England has predicted that unemployment will rise to 10 per cent this year, as employees are weaned off the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from August.
>See also: IR35 freelance tax changes will go ahead in April 2021 – are you ready?
Small businesses that offer training for young people aged between 16 and 24 will be given cash “bonuses” of grants worth £2000 per youth up to a maximum of £10,000 per firm.
This unpaid on-the-job training is seen as a gateway to an apprenticeship and, ultimately, full-time work.
The £111m scheme is the first-time small businesses will receive direct government subsidies for taking on trainees.
A Treasury spokesman said businesses would get a £2000 bonus payment “for every trainee they offer a work experience placement to”, and employers who were “new to providing trainees with work experience will also be eligible for the

Read more...

Rishi Sunak Summer Statement what it means for small business

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
What does the Summer Statement mean for small business?
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a package of measures to help small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic, as the second phase of government action.
Mr Sunak unveiled cash grants of £1,000 for each furloughed employee a business takes back, a new £2bn jobs scheme aimed at bringing in young people into work, and VAT being slashed to 5 per cent for hospitality and attractions businesses.
“It will give businesses the confidence to retrain and hire this autumn,” Mr Sunak announced in the House of Commons this afternoon.
Job Retention Bonus
Mr Sunak announced a £9bn initiative to reward businesses that bring furloughed employees back into work.
Any small business that takes back a furloughed employee will be given a £1,000 grant for each worker, providing they are still in employment by the end of January. Workers must have been continuously employed and earn an average of more than £520 per month in November, December and January.
Mr Sunak said: “If you stand by your workers, then we will stand by you.”
Reacting to the announcement, Howard Kennedy head of employment law Jane Amphlett said: “The bonus is likely to provide an incentive for employers

Read more...

Rishi Sunak gives small businesses £2000 grants for young trainees

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: Rishi Sunak will give small businesses £2000 grants per trainee if they take on young people for training schemes.
The scheme, which was announced today (Wednesday) as part of the chancellor’s economic Summer Statement, will throw ens of thousands of young people a lifebelt against the coming tsunami of post Covid-19 unemployment.
The Bank of England has predicted that unemployment will rise to 10 per cent this year, as employees are weaned off the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from August.
>See also: IR35 freelance tax changes will go ahead in April 2021 – are you ready?
Small businesses that offer training for young people aged between 16 and 24 will be given cash “bonuses” of grants worth £2000 per youth up to a maximum of £10,000 per firm.
This unpaid on-the-job training is seen as a gateway to an apprenticeship and, ultimately, full-time work.
The £111m scheme is the first-time small businesses will receive direct government subsidies for taking on trainees.
A Treasury spokesman said businesses would get a £2000 bonus payment “for every trainee they offer a work experience placement to”, and employers who were “new to providing trainees with work experience will also be eligible for the

Read more...

Where to apply for your coronavirus arts grant

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and British Film Institute are among the arts organisations tasked with assessing applications for the £880m worth of performing arts grant ring-fenced in the government’s £1.6bn coronavirus arts rescue package.
The rescue scheme will begin assessing coronavirus arts grant applications this month, and this page will be updated as information feeds through.
The £1.6bn arts rescue package, secured by culture secretary Oliver Dowden after weeks of studying the problems facing the arts sector, includes £880m of grants for the financial year to April 2021.
>See also: How to get the government’s £10,000 cash grant for small businesses
The £880m worth of grant money will be shared between theatres, music venues, heritage sites, museums, galleries and independent loans, will be supplemented by £270m worth of repayable loans.
In addition to the £880m worth of grants and £270m of repayable loans, other measures announced today for struggling arts organisations were:

£100m of targeted support for the national cultural institutions in England and the English Heritage Trust
£120m of capital investment to restart construction on cultural infrastructure and for heritage construction projects in England that were paused due to the coronavirus pandemic
An extra £188m

Read more...

Rishi Sunak Summer Statement what it means for small business

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
What does the Summer Statement mean for small business?
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a package of measures to help small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic, as the second phase of government action.
Mr Sunak unveiled cash grants of £1,000 for each furloughed employee a business takes back, a new £2bn jobs scheme aimed at bringing in young people into work, and VAT being slashed to 5 per cent for hospitality and attractions businesses.
“It will give businesses the confidence to retrain and hire this autumn,” Mr Sunak announced in the House of Commons this afternoon.
Job Retention Bonus
Mr Sunak announced a £9bn initiative to reward businesses that bring furloughed employees back into work.
Any small business that takes back a furloughed employee will be given a £1,000 grant for each worker, providing they are still in employment by January. The minimum wage of each employee should be at least £520 a month.
Mr Sunak said: “If you stand by your workers, then we will stand by you.”
Kickstart jobs scheme
As expected, chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £2bn scheme for small business owners to hire young people as part of his Summer Statement.
The new Kickstart scheme will help half

Read more...

Rishi Sunak gives small businesses £1000 grants for young trainees

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak will give small businesses £1000 grants per trainee if they take on young people for training schemes.
The scheme, which will be announced this Wednesday as part of the chancellor’s economic statement, will tens of thousands of young people a lifebelt against the coming tsunami of post Covid-19 unemployment.
The Bank of England has predicted that unemployment will rise to 10 per cent this year, as employees are weaned off the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from August.
>See also: IR35 freelance tax changes will go ahead in April 2021 – are you ready?
Small businesses that offer training for young people aged between 16 and 24 will be given cash “bonuses” of grants worth £1000 per youth up to a maximum of £10,000 per firm.
This unpaid on-the-job training is seen as a gateway to an apprenticeship and, ultimately, full-time work.
The £111m scheme is the first-time small businesses will receive direct government subsidies for taking on trainees.
A Treasury spokesman said businesses would get a £1,000 bonus payment “for every trainee they offer a work experience placement to”, and employers who were “new to providing trainees with work experience will also be eligible for the payment”.
The chancellor

Read more...

Where to apply for your coronavirus arts grant

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and British Film Institute are among the arts organisations tasked with assessing applications for the £880m worth of performing arts grant ring-fenced in the government’s £1.6bn coronavirus arts rescue package.
The rescue scheme will begin assessing coronavirus arts grant applications this month, and this page will be updated as information feeds through.
The £1.6bn arts rescue package, secured by culture secretary Oliver Dowden after weeks of studying the problems facing the arts sector, includes £880m of grants for the financial year to April 2021.
>See also: How to get the government’s £10,000 cash grant for small businesses
The £880m worth of grant money will be shared between theatres, music venues, heritage sites, museums, galleries and independent loans, will be supplemented by £270m worth of repayable loans.
In addition to the £880m worth of grants and £270m of repayable loans, other measures announced today for struggling arts organisations were:

£100m of targeted support for the national cultural institutions in England and the English Heritage Trust
£120m of capital investment to restart construction on cultural infrastructure and for heritage construction projects in England that were paused due to the coronavirus pandemic
An extra £188m

Read more...

Rishi Sunak gives small businesses £1000 grants for young trainees

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak will give small businesses £1000 grants per trainee if they take on young people for training schemes.
The scheme, which will be announced this Wednesday as part of the chancellor’s economic statement, will tens of thousands of young people a lifebelt against the coming tsunami of post Covid-19 unemployment.
The Bank of England has predicted that unemployment will rise to 10 per cent this year, as employees are weaned off the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from August.
>See also: IR35 freelance tax changes will go ahead in April 2021 – are you ready?
Small businesses that offer training for young people aged between 16 and 24 will be given cash “bonuses” of grants worth £1000 per youth up to a maximum of £10,000 per firm.
This unpaid on-the-job training is seen as a gateway to an apprenticeship and, ultimately, full-time work.
The £111m scheme is the first-time small businesses will receive direct government subsidies for taking on trainees.
A Treasury spokesman said businesses would get a £1,000 bonus payment “for every trainee they offer a work experience placement to”, and employers who were “new to providing trainees with work experience will also be eligible for the payment”.
The chancellor

Read more...

What the revamped furlough scheme means for your small business

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
As expected, Rishi Sunak has announced changes to the furlough scheme affecting small business.

August: small businesses will be expected to cover national insurance and pension contributions of workers on the Coranvirus Job Retention Scheme. For the average claim, this represents 5 per cent of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed
September: businesses will have to cover 10 per cent of the wage costs of furloughed workers on top of NI and pension contributions. For the average claim, this represents 14 per cent of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed.
October: businesses will have to cover 20 per cent of furloughed workers wage costs plus NI and pension contributions. For the average claim, this represents 23 per cent of the gross employment costs the employer would have incurred had the employee not been furloughed

Previously, it was assumed that small business owners would only be on the hook for National Insurance contributions, not pensions as well.
>See also: Small businesses will have to cover a quarter of cost of furlough
In the heavily trailed move, chancellor Sunak will allow furloughed workers

Read more...