COVID-19 Update – 24 September – New measures to support jobs and businesses in Winter Economy Plan

Today the government have announced the “winter economy plan”, including a new Job Support Scheme, where partial wages of some workers will be paid by the government and an extension to the Bounce Back Loans Scheme. VAT increase for the hospitality and retails sectors has also been cancelled with all new measure set to stay in place for the next 6 months.

The Job Support Scheme

Starting in November and running for 6 months this new scheme will support the wages of people in work. This will allow businesses to keep employees in jobs on shorter hours rather than making them redundant.

Details on this new scheme can be found on our blog here.

Bounce Back Loans

To give businesses more time and flexibility to repay their loans, the government will be introducing Pay As You Grow. This gives businesses the option to extend the loan from 6 to 10 years, make interest-only payments or apply to suspend repayments altogether for up to 6 months.

VAT increase for hospitality and retail cancelled

The government has decided to extend the VAT cut for the hospitality and retail sector to help support business and protect jobs. The lower 5% VAT rate will now remain until March 31 next year.

Find out more