With the UK’s new proposed budget recently announced, it is worth taking a closer look at what has been put forward and what this might mean for small business owners going forward. Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his first Budget in the House of Commons on March 11th in turbulent times with the economy taking an enormous hit due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Cash Injection for SSP
The Government pledged an enormous £2 billion cash injection for small businesses in order to refund the cost of statutory sick pay for up to 14 days for small and medium-sized businesses (those with fewer than 250 employees). This is in recognition of “exceptional circumstances” where 20% of the workforce could be unable to work at any one time.
Deferred Tax & A New Loan Scheme
Additionally, HMRC have been asked to “scale up” the Time to Pay service which would allow businesses and self-employed workers to defer tax payments over an agreed period of time due to the disruption caused by the epidemic. There has also been the introduction of a “temporary Coronavirus business interruption” loan scheme where banks can offer loans of up to £1.2m to SMEs during the disruption. The government will offer a guarantee on loans covering up to 80% of losses with no fees which will allow lenders to provide money with confidence.

How Coronavirus is impacting ecommerce business

How Coronavirus is impacting e-commerce business


There is also welcome news for industries that will be hit hardest by COVID-19, including retail, leisure and hospitality. Business rates will be scrapped altogether for small businesses in a tax cut worth up to £1 billion and should help to soften the blow of the unexpected drop in demand until the end of the year. There will also be a £3,000 cash grant available for small businesses that pay no business rates worth up to a total of £3 billion. This will provide a much-needed security net for companies in these industries in a time of great uncertainty.
Funding 
There will also be £130 million of new funding to extend start-up loans. For businesses that require capital investments, business loans will be a good option but you might struggle to get approval if you do not have a great credit score. This is where bad credit business loans will be so helpful because it allows you access to financial support to cover cash flow or allow for growth even with a less-than-ideal credit history. This could be key and help businesses to survive a challenging period who otherwise might have struggled to get access to capital just because of their credit rating.

Overall, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged £30 billion to protect “British people, British jobs and British businesses” during this challenging period. He claims that this is the biggest fiscal boost to the UK in 30 years to help protect the economy during the Coronavirus outbreak. Small businesses in all industries will be relieved to hear the support that the Government is offering in these uncertain times and hopefully, it will help smaller businesses to manage during the disruptive period.